sustainability

In the financial sector, less than 30 percent of all executive positions are held by women. In terms of gender equality, therefore, there is still room for improvement. Women in Finance, an initiative launched in 2018 by Febelfin, brings together ladies who want to change that, and with success.

The EU’s ESG investment taxonomies are evolving. Only certain aspects of climate action are currently taken into account, but work is on-going so that the environmental taxonomy covers more areas and will be applied in a subtler fashion.

Rolando Grandi, a fund manager with La Financière de l’Echiquier has highlighted the huge opportunities linked to the development of the space sector, with many companies expected to go public in the coming years. 

Not all European regulations are good. Under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), part of the EU Green Deal, asset managers must disclose information on sustainability. The objective is thus more transparency and openness in this area. However, from the start the directive was used as a means to classify funds.

“It is no secret that we at BlackRock have embraced sustainability rather late. The turnaround came with top executive Larry Fink’s letters to shareholders about creating long-term value, then purpose, and then sustainability in 2020.

Of the €141bn net subscriptions into Luxembourg funds in 2020, two-thirds were attributed to sustainable funds. This compares to 44% for the rest of Europe. A recently-published survey* commissioned by ALFI gives greater insight into the ESG investing revolution.

Sachin Vankalas, the Managing Director of LuxFlag, has passed away unexpectedly. The LuxFlag Board of Directors and the LuxFlag team are deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Vankalas, the organization said in a brief press release. 

The general manager of LuxFlag, Luxembourg’s sustainable finance lobby group, has died of Covid-19 after battling the disease in hospital, a spokesperson confirmed. Vankalas, who worked at LuxFlag for 10 years, died at the age of 38.

Paris-based fund manager launches new fund to invest in the structural trends of the new China. The fund takes a sustainability approach to stock selection.

Sustainable equity funds invest in a wide range of assets, not just expensive ‘growth’ companies, as is widely assumed, according to Maximilian Anderl, manager of the UBS Equity European Opportunities Sustainable fund.

La Financière de L’Echiquier (LFDE) wants to gain a foothold in the Netherlands, following in the footsteps of Belgium and Luxembourg. The boutique manager from France focuses on medium-sized pension funds and wholesale in the Netherlands. The French argue that their niche thematic strategies can offer added value as a ‘satellite’ in the asset allocation of such parties.