Sant calls for ‘robust financial services’ in Europe

Labour MEP Alfred Sant said that in recent years, especially in the wake of Luxleaks and the Panama papers scandal, financial services have become associated to tax evasion, aggressive tax avoidance, money laundering and corruption. 

“They have been seen as operated by unscrupulous bankers and accountants, whose only commitment is to greed and the promotion of tax havens. There is some truth in this impression. But it is very far from being the whole truth,” Sant said.

Addressing the European Parliament, the Maltese MEP said that the globalised economic system and the Europe which is being created demand “robust financial services to ensure that available resources are being effectively utilised.”

“This truism needs to be repeated,” Sant added during his intervention in the Plenary joint debate on Financial instruments.

“Here, we are devising new methods that make financial services more adapted to today’s and tomorrow’s needs. Just as importantly however, we need new measures ensuring that the best practice in financial services is defined by professional behaviour which is committed to the highest ethical and social behaviour. At present we dont have this assurance!,” the former Prime Minister said.

As MEPs discussed two reports; ‘Markets in financial instruments’ and ‘Markets in financial instruments, market abuse and securities settlement,’ Sant noted that the texts relate to complex regulations developed in the past few years as a response to the demands and needs of financial markets in Europe and elsewhere.

“They provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the financial services sector to which they relate,” he said.