Investment Officer

Global financial markets are on tenterhooks on Tuesday, 22-2-22, after Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Monday recognised the separatists in the east of the Ukraine’s and ordered his troops into Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. 

Putin’s aggression means investors now face fresh uncertainty as the ongoing geopolitical developments will have consequences for the economy, for monetary policy, for cohesion among European countries and for transatlantic relations. 

The global ETF industry attracted some 76.4 billion dollars (67.2 billion euro) in net inflows in January, down from 84.38 billion dollars the same month a year earlier, according to ETFGI, a London-based research and consultancy firm.

Assets invested in the global industry for ETFs - Exchange Traded Funds - decreased by 3.9 percent to 9.9 billion dollars, down from a record 10.3 billion in December as a result of declining markets.

Amundi, Europe’s biggest asset manager, on Wednesday said that it has created the Amundi Institute as a new division that will help investors better determine their asset allocation and help them construct their portfolios in an increasingly complex and changing world.

Amundi’s Global Head of Research Monica Defend (pictured) will serve as head of Amundi Institute. Pascal Blanqué has been appointed President of the institute and will oversee the new business line. 

Two of Luxembourg’s biggest asset services companies, Apex and Universal-Investment, have recently strengthened their client services teams.

San Lie is to succeed Bas-Jan Blom as Chairman of the Management Board of ASN Impact Investors, the asset management arm of Dutch retail bank ASN. Lie has been head of portfolio management of the asset manager, which has approximately 4.7 billion euro under management, since autumn 2019. “We have formulated ambitious targets for 2030. The central question now is how we are going to get there,” says Lie.

Apex Group said on Monday it has been appointed by the NEOR Crypto Volatility Fund Ltd to provide it with administration and transfer agency services. The fund, registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, will be managed by Switzerland-based Eagle Eye Finance Sàrl, supervised by Swiss financial regulator FINMA.

The superior performance of growth stocks, exposure to companies that are often below average on sustainability and the big impact the corona pandemic had on seemingly certain dividends has made dividend funds unpopular among investors. However, with the rotation towards value stocks under way, there is hope for a revival for income-oriented equity funds.

European mutual funds that promote green investments saw assets increase by some 22 percent in the fourth quarter, to more than 4,000 billion euro, and will overtake traditional ‘grey’ assets in terms of asset volume no later than the summer of 2022, Morningstar said in a research report on the effects of the SFDR sustainability regulation introduced last year.

Luxembourg retained its lead last year as the biggest global hub for sustainable investment funds. Nearly half of all ESG assets in Europe now have a home in Luxembourg, according to LFF, while the appeal of the Luxembourg Green Exchange continues to grow.

It is a well-known fact: supertankers do not change their course easily. But once the decision is made on the bridge, the change of course is pushed with significant force and mass. Take BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. It lagged behind in making its policies more sustainable, but now, according to a letter, is offering its clients a veritable ‘one stop shop’.