A social label, ESG transition label and perhaps even a real estate label are in the works, 
Delas has been CEO of Luxflag, the labelling agency that checks investment fund firms’ responsible investing claims, since May.
The organisation has granted current labels to more than 360 funds domiciled in Luxembourg and 8 other European jurisdictions, representing more than €200bn in assets under management. A Luxflag spokeswoman said those funds had an even broader geographic distribution: “our labelled products reach more than 70 countries.”
Paperjam+Delano Finance spoke with Delas ahead of its Sustainable Investment Week 2022 event, which will be held next week.
“The focus this year is mainly on ESG, data and, of course, impact investing,” Delas said of the conference.
Delas was keen to highlight the closing session, which will feature the two new ESG coordinators at the Luxembourg Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF), who will be speaking in public for this first time since taking up the freshly created roles earlier this year. The closing session will also feature a senior rural finance and gender inclusion official from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.
New fund labels in development
Luxflag expects to receive “at least 10 applicants” for its recently launched ESG discretionary mandate label by the end of this year, Delas stated during the interview. There is “a certain momentum for this label, because it definitely will help banks to distribute their discretionary portfolio mandates to private investors that are keen to make a difference. Having the label will distinguish them from other products and that should put more private money into sustainable investments.”
The first batch of ESG discretionary mandate labels will be issued in the first quarter of 2023.
The organisation will likewise aim to “streamline our processes” in order to handle an expected increase in applicants in the coming months.
At the same time, “we want to focus more next year on the S” in ESG, with Luxflag looking into launching a “social label”. The outfit will similarly consider introducing an ESG transition label in 2023 and possibly a real estate label in 2024.
Luxflag’s Sustainable Investment Week 2022 will be held from Monday 17 to Wednesday 19 October at Mudam. Registration closes on Friday 14 October 2022.
This article was published for the Paperjam + Delano Finance newsletter, the weekly source for financial news in Luxembourg. Subscribe using this link.
