Is ESG just a buzzword or a game changer? LuxFLAG organised its very first breakfast seminar in London together with SDL and Lansons to shed light on how Environmental, Social and Governance factors are changing the investment conversation of the future.

The roundtable discussed key opportunities and challenges of widely integrating ESG in the fund industry and today’s role of ESG reporting, transparency and regulation. Even though the interest for ESG is currently flourishing, the implementation in the industry at large might be at first a challenging exercise for many actors. The opportunites are enormous as the panelists agreed during the roundtable. In the end, it’s more about greening the growing economy than growing the green economy. Sustainability should be seen as a key driver for the investment industry of the future, allowing competitive returns and creating a long-term progress towards sustainable development. The panel agreed that there will be no way around taking into account sustainability factors in future investment decision making. Latest when regulation comes in, financial actors need to aware that they need to report on what’s under the surface of their investment policies.

To get further insights, listen here to the podcast of the roundtable with Sital Cheema (Sustainable Investment Consultant), Roddy Temperley (SDL), Archie Beeching (Muzinich & Co), David Masters (Lansons) and Sachin Vankalas (LuxFLAG).

Read more in the SDL blog “ESG a game changer but plenty still to be done”

 

« Nous avions appris avec une profonde tristesse et émotion le décès de Son Altesse Royale le Grand-Duc Jean. Au nom de l’association LuxFLAG, je tiens à exprimer nos sincères condoléances à leurs Altesses Royales le Grand-Duc Henri et la Grande-Duchesse Maria Teresa et à l’ensemble de la Famille grand-ducale dans ces moments douloureux. Son Altesse Royale sera gardé en mémoire en tant qu’homme d’Etat d’exception très proche du peuple luxembourgeois, ayant fait part d’un engagement extraordinaire dont nous voudrions le remercier de tout cœur. »

–  Thomas Seale, Président de LuxFLAG

Photo © Cour grand-ducale / Jochen Herling

LuxFLAG is pleased to welcome CACEIS, CapitalatWork Foyer Group, DWS Investment, MAZARS Luxembourg, Novacap Asset Management, Raiffeisen Bank, Syngeon and VP Bank (Luxembourg) as new Associate members, counting 82 members in total.

CACEIS: CACEIS is an asset servicing bank specialising in post-trade functions related to administration and monitoring of all asset classes. With a solid IT infrastructure, we provide execution, clearing, custody, depositary and asset valuation services in markets worldwide to assist institutional and corporate clients in meeting their business development objectives.

CapitalatWork FoyerGroup: CapitalatWork is an asset manager active in the Benelux for more than 25 years. Guided by their very own team of analysts and fund managers, their investment philosophy promotes a long term vision and sustainable activities. They offer comprehensive solutions to their clients as they align their interests with them.

DWS Investment: DWS Group is one of the world’s leading asset managers with about EUR 662 billion of assets under management globally. Building on more than 60 years of experience, DWS offers individuals and institutions access to its strong investment capabilities across all major asset classes and solutions aligned to growth trends. DWS’ diverse expertise in Active, Passive and Alternatives asset management – as well as its deep Environmental, Social and Governance focus – complement each other when creating targeted solutions for clients.

MAZARS Luxembourg: Mazars is an international, integrated and independent organisation, specialised in audit, accounting, tax and outsourcing. Present in Luxembourg for nearly 25 years, they are recognised both nationally and internationally for their expertise and the quality of their services.

Novacap Asset Management: NOVACAP is an independent asset management company incorporated in February 2007 to create and manage funds (UCITS, AIF) and portfolios of institutional and private clients worldwide. Among their services, they specialise in fund set-up, risk management, investment management and governance, giving substance to the newly created entity for their clients.

 

Raiffeisen Bank: First cooperative bank in Luxembourg, Banque Raiffeisen is committed to supporting and working solely in the interests of its members and clients. With a network of some 40 agencies, Banque Raiffeisen serves retail, private banking and corporate clients. Banque Raiffeisen is a totally independant bank, owned by its members who are also its clients, and focuses exclusively on the Luxembourg market, thus enabling fast and independant decison-making with full knowledge of the local context.

Syngeon: Since 2010 Syngeon S.A. delivers customized solutions to clients in the European financial industry. As an independent Consulting company Syngeon S.A. provides services from IT strategy to implementation, from process design to process implementation driven by market needs, efficiency increase or regulations. Focusing on solution and value added services we collaborate with a large network of partners to deliver the highest benefit and ensure a comprehensive support.

 

VP Bank (Luxembourg): VP Bank (Luxembourg) SA is a wholly owned subsidiary of VP Bank Group. To date it remains the only subsidiary of a Liechtenstein-based bank in the Grand Duchy. For 30 years now their roughly 100 staff have been devoted to providing high-calibre asset management and investment consultancy with a personal touch.

Are you interested in becoming an Associate member? Get further details here

Overview of LuxFLAG’s Associate members

LuxFLAG awards new labels to 15 investment funds, labelling now 117 investment products in total.

The ESG Label has been awarded to 8 funds:

• AB FCP I – Sustainable US Thematic Portfolio
• AB SICAV I – Sustainable Global Thematic Portfolio
• Blue Like An Orange Sustainable Capital Latin America Fund I
• CPR Invest – Education
• CPR Invest – Food For Generations
• Fidelity Funds – FIRST ESG All Country World
  
• Fidelity Funds – Sustainable Water & Waste Fund
• Tikehau Credit Plus
  

The ESG Applicant Fund Status has been granted, amongst others, to the following funds: Actiam Global Equity Impact Fund, Actiam Sustainable Euro Fixed Income, CQS New City Global Equity Fund.

CQS New City Global Equity Fund is the first Irish fund receiving the Applicant Fund Status.

Renewals

The ESG Label has been renewed for the following 5 funds:

• DPAM L Bonds Emerging Markets Sustainable
• DPAM Invest B Equities Europe Sustainable
• DPAM L Bonds Government Sustainable
• NEF Ethical Balanced Conservative
• NEF Ethical Total Return

The Environment Label has been renewed for the Central American Timber Fund.

The Microfinance Label has been renewed for 13 Microfinance funds:

• Dual Return Fund- Vision Microfinance
• FEFISOL- Fonds européen de financement solidaire pour l’Afrique
• European Microfinance Platform Fund
• GLS Alternative Investments – Mikrofinanzfonds
• KCD Mikrofinanzfonds III – Universal
• Investing for Development – Luxembourg Microfinance and Development Fund
• REGMIFA – Regional MSME Investment Fund for Sub-Saharan Africa
• responsAbility Financial Inclusion Fund
• responsAbility Micro and SME Finance Fund
• responsAbility Mikro and SME Finance Debt Fund
• responsAbility Micro and SME Finance Leaders
• Rural Impulse Fund II
• The European Fund for Southeast Europe

As of 1 April 2019, LuxFLAG labels 117 investment products (31 Microfinance, 7 Environment, 46 ESG, 4 Climate Finance funds, 8 Applicant fund status and 21 Green Bonds).

If you are interested in labelling your sustainable investment product, kindly contact us for further information.

The Luxembourg Minister for Energy Claude Turmes captivated an audience of 150 delegates during LuxFLAG’s Breakfast Seminar at Spuerkeess on March 13th. In their introductions, Rudi Belli, Senior Vice President at Spuerkeess and Thomas Seale, Chairman of LuxFLAG, urged the need to act on climate change through finance. The speech by the Minister and discussion led by Nathalie Dogniez (Member of the LuxFLAG ESG Label Eligibility Committee and Partner at PwC), revealed key insights on Luxembourg’s national energy and climate plans as well as the role the financial sector has to play in the energy transition.

The Minister highlighted that innovation and collective action at several levels will help to move towards a carbon-neutral economy.

‘THE INNOVATION-RICH AND TECHNOLOGY-RICH WILL DOMINATE THE 21ST CENTURY, NO LONGER THE RESOURCE-RICH.’

With trillions flowing through the financial center, Luxembourg needs to remain frontrunner in green finance with the skills and expertise acquired over the past years. The Minister highlighted that transparency and high-quality labels will help the market progress. Instruments that de-risk green investments are key to advance the conversation. Upfront optimization remains the way to go, from the general product design to the granularities of the underlying assets, embracing a circular mindset.

‘WE NEED TO BE CIRCULAR, EVERY MATERIAL NEEDS TO HAVE A SECOND AND THIRD LIFE.’

The Minister urged that we are already 5 past 12, climate change being about everybody’s responsibility as a citizen. Change needs to come collectively, primarily through changes in our lifestyle. The Minister called upon the attendees to send their children to the climate strikes on Friday March 15^th following the example of Greta Thunberg, a 16-year old climate activist from Sweden. Through a new University Chair on Sustainable Finance, Luxembourg will build on the developments of skills and university education.

‘MILLIONS OF YOUNG PEOPLE GO OUT ON THE STREETS WITH A CLIMATE FIRST MENTALITY, SETTING AN EXAMPLE’

Concrete action on different ends is needed from agriculture, forestry, transport to the building sector. The National Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC) foresees several measures in order to advance Luxembourg’s climate and energy strategy.

Luxembourg’s target is to get to 23-25% of renewable energy by 2030 and improve the CO2 footprint by 50% compared to 2005. This will be made possible amongst others through investments in electro-mobility, new wind turbines and solar PV.

Increasing taxation on diesel and gasoline in small steps and the introduction of subsidies for electric vehicles and cycles, as well as reforms on green finance taxation are some of the measures in the pipeline. In order to get the car industry on track, new innovation on the development of green batteries with 100% recyclable components and sustainable resource mining will soon improve current battery concerns of electric cars.

 

Presentation: National energy and climate plans (PNEC)

Press articles:

Tageblatt: Klimaland Luxemburg

Paperjam: ‘Le futur de la banque est vert‘

Lëtzebuerger Journal: Le salut de la finance verte

Delano: Reform expected on taxation of green finance

Is sustainability an ephemeral trend or is it a game changer? How close is the industry to seeing ESG become a regulatory requirement? Will companies soon need to report on their impact on climate change? What role does tech have to play?

Find out in our latest contribution to Seqvoia’s blog

The year of ADA’s 25th anniversary began with a Midi de la Microfinance devoted to current topics in the sector that will shape the development of financial inclusion in the coming years. International speakers testified on digital, real added value for the client and gender equality in African entrepreneurship, in front of the audience in the auditorium of Banque de Luxembourg.

INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL SERVICES TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

ADA, the Luxembourg NGO, has been dedicated to the development of financial inclusion for 25 years through numerous projects. Moreover of  its 25th anniversary this year, ADA will also organize the 4th African Microfinance Week (SAM) in October in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. This large-scale event will be devoted to the theme of impact and solutions to achieve the Objectives for Sustainable Development 2030. The 46th Midi de la Microfinance, organised on 7 February at Banque de Luxembourg, was therefore the opportunity to introduce the first themes to be presented at the SAM, thanks to the experts present on stage: Gerhard Coetzee, Centricity Client Expert at CGAP, based in Washington, Madji Sock, Founder and President of Women’s Investment Club and partner at Dalberg in Dakar and Arnaud de Lavalette, Senior Project Manager in Digital Finance at ADA in Luxembourg.

TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS DESIGNED AS ADDED VALUE FOR THE CUSTOMER 

Digital solutions are often mentioned as one of the most important themes of those that will shape the future of the financial inclusion sector, thanks to easier access to the most remote populations, reduced operational costs for microfinance institutions, or simply through the democratization of financial services. As Madji Sock pointed out: “Digital technology helps to reduce the gap between men and women or young entrepreneurs”. Gerhard Coetzee added: “In fact, between 2006 and 2017, nearly two billion accounts were opened worldwide, but more than half of them are not used. It is therefore important to know why these clients have abandoned them. Is there any real added value behind this? The same is true for digital, the customer’s needs must be put forward in the development of technical solutions”.
This centricity customer expert adds: “The added value for the customer is to adapt products and services to the needs of customers and not suppliers”.
Arnaud de Lavalette stated that as part of the “Digital finance initiative” project launched by ADA in 2017 in African countries, microfinance institutions are in fact turning to digital innovations following the request of their clients. Most technological products are therefore implemented first with the idea of bringing real added value to the customer.
Finally, the issue of public-private partnerships was raised for the advancement of the sector: “The trend of profitability before social development should be avoided. For this reason, it is important that projects are carried out by NGOs,” says Madji Sock.
The conclusion of the discussion between the three experts was presented by Sachin S Vankalas, Director of Operations and Sustainable Development, LuxFLAG Luxembourg who highlighted the need for capacity building for microfinance actors in Africa to access more investors and thereby improve their products and services, including digital. He concludes with an important note: “In addition, the benefits of digital innovations that improve and facilitate the work of financial institutions in the South must also be visible to the customer, for example by reducing interest rates on products offered”.

This Midi was moderated by Myka Reinsch, Inclusive Finance Consultant (France).

Communicated by ADA

The LUXEMBOURG FINANCE LABELLING AGENCY (LuxFLAG) is an independent, non-profit association created in Luxembourg in July 2006 by seven founding partners who are the Charter Members.

The agency aims to promote the raising of capital for the Responsible Investment sector by awarding a recognisable label to eligible investment vehicles. Its objective is to reassure investors that the applicant invests, directly or indirectly, in the Responsible Investment sector.

The agency counts as well on over 75 Associate Members that support the Agency and can benefit from multiple advantages of the Association.

Considering the current growth of the agency, we are looking for a new team member that will complete our existing team of 3 people and will be supporting the agency in a number of various tasks:

Your Responsibilities

• Support the Director of Operations and Sustainability in preparing the application files for the label submission

• Support the General Manager in client meetings and follow-up

• Support the agency in various administrative tasks e.g. invoicing, preparation of strategic notes, accounting support

• Support Database Management and Communication Activities

Who you are

• You hold a Master degree in Finance or Economics.

• You have a first experience in the finance industry or investment funds in particular. An experience or knowledge in the field of Sustainable Finance would be an advantage.

• You are fluent in both English and French (oral and written). German or any other language would be a plus

• You are proactive and extremely well organised, with an ability to work effectively with a sound judgement

• You rely on getting things done and are used to respecting tight deadlines

• You are rigorous, autonomous and a quick learner

• You are a reliable and resilient person

• You have excellent knowledge of MS office tools such as Excel, Word and Power Point

What we can offer you

As a member of the LuxFLAG team, you will be working in a dynamic environment with many opportunities to grow your knowledge in the very promising field of Sustainable Finance. We offer you a number of benefits such as additional pension plans, the bank holidays set in the banking sector convention together with a flexible work schedule. We attach a high importance to the personal fulfilment and professional development of our employees and we are committed to the values reflected in our CSR policy.

If you are interested please send your CV and motivation letter to :

 

Mario Mantrisi

General Manager

mario.mantrisi@luxflag.org

Tel: +352 22 30 26-30 Mobile: +352 621 25 05 25  I Fax: +352 22 30 93

www.luxflag.org