Luxembourg home to nearly half of Europe’s ESG assets
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.
Listening to stakeholders brings best shareholder value
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’.
'Tiger in the green'
As the year of the tiger starts, it is time to get excited about Chinese equities, writes InvestmentOfficer/FondsNieuws columnist Han Dieperink.
Today, the year of the tiger starts. A year ago at the start of the year of the ox, it was time to swap Chinese stocks for Chinese bonds. Economic growth had peaked and so did the earnings cycle. Moreover, Chinese stocks had risen sharply during the first year of the corona crisis.
Bonds benefit as net fund sales reach low in November
Net sales of investment funds in Europe were at their lowest in November - apart from bonds - as investors worried about the new Covid-19 Omicron variant while awaiting reactions by the world’s central banks to rising inflation, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) said on Monday.
Regulators to examine investment fund valuation
Top-level European securities markets regulator ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) has announced it will be examining the valuation of UCITS and open-ended alternative investment funds (AIFs) across the EU.
CSSF: DLT/Blockchain "a real challenge"
Integrating distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be “a real challenge” for financial institutions and regulators, Luxembourg’s financial regulator the CSSF (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier) said last Friday in a white paper on distributed ledger technology (DLT), also known as blockchain (a type of DLT, the CSSF noted).
KPMG Luxembourg names Breton, Guertler as partner
KPMG Luxembourg has named Annick Breton and Christian Guertler as partners in its asset management consulting business. They will work closely with Yves Courtois, Head of Advisory and the Advisory Partners group. Both Breton and Guertler have a strong track record in international asset management, KPMG has announced.
Top 5 Emerging Markets Equities: Schroders in the lead
2021 was one of the worst calendar years for emerging markets in the last decade, according to senior manager research analyst Ronald van Genderen of Morningstar, in his contribution for this week. Only 2013 saw a (narrowly) bigger loss. That year, the market was hit by concerns about the so-called “taper tantrum”. The situation today is similar, with increasing concerns about rising inflation that may trigger interest rate actions by Western central banks.
EU AI startup fund targeting 24% net return
The interest in new funds and alternatives is obvious from the enthusiasm for a new fund that invests in start-ups in artificial intelligence. 35 investors, including family offices and also the co-founders of BinckBank and Litebit, have together pledged millions to the Curiosity Venture Capital fund launched today.
Fuss over natural gas and nuclear power in EU taxonomy
On the last day of the year, the European Commission secretly circulated a plan to classify the fossil fuel natural gas and nuclear power as ‘sustainable’ investments. It seems the Commission will not publicly consult on this plan - the second chapter of the EU ‘taxonomy’ - while it did so three times for the first chapter, which dealt with renewable energy.