Investment Officer

Luxembourg’s Ministry of Finance has chosen asset management firm Schroders and its impact investment unit BlueOrchard as industry partners for a new climate action partnership. Schroders will serve as the management company for the finance ministry.

BlueOrchard has been appointed as the investment manager for this climate impact strategy, the firm said in a 16 June press release announcing that it had won an international tender process.

JP Morgan Asset Management and Pictet separately announced the launch on Tuesday of new climate change solutions funds. Both funds seek to invest in companies that have aligned their products and services with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, known as the SDGs.

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF on Monday ordered alternative investment managers to exclusively use a new ePassporting module in its eDesk electronic reporting portal to share notifications for the marketing of investment products registered in the Grand Duchy.

Net assets of worldwide investment funds decreased by 2.5 percent in the first quarter as the decline in the United States and Europe was only partly offset by net inflows in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the latest International Statistical Release published by the European Fund and Asset Management Association, known as Efama. Bond and money market saw strong net outflows during the first three months, although China bucked the with rising inflows for money market funds.

The US central bank on Wednesday evening announced t that it would raise the benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to cushion rising inflation. Earlier this week, the Fed already indicated to markets that it would do so. Economists and analysts last week were still expecting a 50 bp increase. The bigger-than-expected hike increases the chances of a recession in the United States.

Following an emergency meeting of its governing council, the European Central Bank on Wednesday said it will bring forward its plans to create a new instrument that will prevent fragmentation between the 19 economies in the eurozone.

Firms promoting Exchange Traded Funds in Europe have reported 2.5 billion euro in net inflows for last month, despite a persistently difficult market environment, market research firm Refinitiv Lipper said on Tuesday. The inflows remain “far below” the 12-month rolling average of 11.5 billion euro per month.

Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday rejected a proposal by the European Commission to treat nuclear energy and natural gas as sustainable economic activities. If the vote is confirmed by absolute majority in the July 7 plenary meeting, the Commission’s proposal to update the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities will be sent back to the drawing board.

The World Bank on Tuesday warned that the global economy is facing a 1970s-style stagflation with a protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation.

“For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid,” World Bank President David Malpass said at the presentation of the bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report, which noted an increased risk of stagflation ”with potentially harmful consequences for middle- and low-income economies alike”.

Luxembourg has frozen some 4.3 billion euro in Russian assets, mostly held in shares, bonds and bank accounts, as part of the international sanctions against Russia, the finance ministry said.

The Luxembourg Business Register, at the request of the finance ministry, so far has identified more than 90 persons and 1,100 legal entities registered in the Trade and Companies Register (RCS) for which there are details of persons included in the sanctions lists.