LGX Corner - March

Welcome to the March edition of the LGX roundup!

This month, we bring you two awards, a free 1-hour recording of the launch event of the Climate-Aligned Issuers section on LGX, and other market news.

As we approach the fifth anniversary of LGX, we are happy to announce that we have won Environmental Finance's Exchange of the Year award for the fifth consecutive year. The Environmental Finance Bond Awards 2021 recognise companies and institutions that contributed to the successful development of the sustainable finance market in 2020.

“This is a tremendous honour for our exchange and all our teams. This recognition strengthens our commitment to accelerate our contribution to the achievement of the sustainable finance agenda. We are grateful for the loyal support from all our issuers and impact-conscious investors, who strive to make finance part of the solution,” commented our Deputy CEO and Founder of LGX Julie Becker.

Last month, we announced the launch of the new issuer section on LGX dedicated to Climate Bonds-LGX Climate-Aligned Issuers, made possible thanks to our partnership with Climate Bonds Initiative.

To mark this important development, our experts held a 1-hour webinar session to present the new section and discuss the role of Climate-Aligned Issuers in the broader sustainable investment universe. Among the speakers were Sean Kidney, CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative and Robert Eigenheer, Head of Capital Markets and of Treasury & Asset Management at Eurofima, one of the companies featured in our Climate-Aligned Issuers section.

Since the launch of the LGX Academy last year, our expert lecturers have worked continuously to provide course participants with first-hand practical knowledge of the sustainable finance market.

For the next course cycle that will take place in May, we have adapted the course structure to ensure that issuers, investors and asset managers remain on top of new emerging trends. We have changed the general organisation of the three courses available, and added an additional module dedicated to ESG funds to the course "Products and Standards".

Towards Digital Capital Markets with Impact and Purpose

The first virtual edition of the Stock Exchange Day, our yearly highlight, took place on 23 March under the tagline "Towards Digital Capital Markets with Impact and Purpose". During the 90-minute event, political leaders, industry experts and tech start-up founders shared insights into the main drivers shaping capital markets today: Brexit, Sustainability and Technology.

In her keynote speech on sustainable finance, Deputy CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative, Justine Leigh-Bell, stressed the need for more clarity around transition finance to build investor trust in the new investment products supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Julie Becker highlighted the increasing role that science plays in sustainable finance: “Sustainable finance creates the link between science, the economy, and finance, and science will play an essential role in the definition of new products and standards. This requires a wide array of scientific and technical expertise previously not present in the financial world because we need to be able to translate scientific impact indicators into practical guidance for finance and industry."

A recording of the event will soon be made available for everyone who missed it or would like to watch it again.

LGX wins Best Green and Sustainable Initiative award

On 18 March, InFinance held its traditional Luxembourg Finance Awards ceremony. We are happy to share that LuxSE won the ”Best Green and Sustainable Initiative” award for our role at the forefront of sustainable finance, especially thanks to the multiple LGX initiatives we launched in 2020.

“I would like first to thank my teams for their innovative mindset, strong commitment and tireless efforts, as well as our loyal clients for supporting our initiatives and contributing to making finance - and the real economy - more sustainable,” notes Julie Becker. That evening, she was also named “Inspirational Woman in Finance” for her significant contribution to the Luxembourg financial centre.

Sustainability goals for tomorrow’s financial sector

InFinance's European Finance Summit 2021, which took place earlier in the day on 18 March, gathered local and international speakers who shared insights into the key topics of sustainability and ESG.

It was the occasion for our Senior Business Development Manager Chiara Caprioli to discuss the transition of the financial industry towards a more sustainable model and highlight the need for market players to consider new risk scenarios, such as climate risks.

Each month, we introduce you to one of the features of the LGX DataHub to help you kick-start your sustainable investment strategy and meet your regulatory reporting obligations.

The LGX DataHub provides all the tools you need to access and automatically receive data that is relevant to you, fully integrated into your dashboard. Our Automated Data Feeds feature allows you to speed up your day-to-day data analysis process.

We collect and structure the data for you so that you can fully focus on your sustainable investment strategy and the new mandatory reporting obligations under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which came into effect on 10 March 2021.

The European Commission lists 6th EU SURE social bond issuance

In March, the sixth social bond issuance under the SURE programme from the European Commission (EC) was listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and displayed on LGX, just like the five first issuances. The latest issuance is split into two bonds, respectively amounting to EUR 8 bn and EUR 5 bn, and brings the total amount of EU SURE social bonds listed on LuxSE and displayed on LGX to EUR 75.5 bn.

The SURE programme aims to help Member States to protect jobs and workers who were severely impacted by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the EC, the first five issuances enabled 16 EU Member States to receive funding as back-to-back loans under the programme. Currently, a total of 19 Member States are foreseen to receive EUR 90.6 bn under this instrument, which has firepower of up to EUR 100 bn.

Applications for the 2021 UN Global Climate Action Awards are open

In 2020, LGX was recognised at the United Nations Global Climate Action Awards for its leading role in ‘Financing for Climate Friendly Investment’. This year, we would like to encourage all of you to apply for the next edition of the UN Awards and show how you contribute to the global sustainable finance agenda.

Organised every year by UN Climate Change's Momentum for Change initiative, the UN Global Climate Action Awards aim to shine a light on innovative, scalable, and replicable examples of climate actions from organisations, communities, cities, businesses, universities, or governments.

The German real estate company Vonovia SE made its debut on LGX with an inaugural EUR 600 m green bond. Proceeds will finance green buildings, renewable energy and clean transportation projects. As Vonovia SE committed to a virtually climate-neutral building stock by 2050, its sustainability objectives are measurable from year to year.

LGX welcomed the banking group Credit Agricole Italia and its inaugural EUR 500 m green covered bond, the first of its kind from an Italian issuer. Proceeds will finance new and existing loans for residential buildings that are among the top 15% most carbon-efficient in Italy.

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