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BFW digitaal / RBF numérique 2022/07

  • Towards a ‘new normal’ for the monetary system?

    Thursday 1/9/2022
    Carlos Bourgeois / Jan Vermaut

    This article summarizes the key-messages of the presentations given by Freddy Van den Spiegel (Professor VUB), Gert Peersman (Professor University Ghent) and Bruno Colmant (Partner Roland Berger) during the BFF Webinar ‘Towards a “new normal” for the monetary system?’ on 20 May 2022.

  • Resetting EMU: a one-off package deal for EMU’s member states

    Thursday 1/9/2022
    Wim Boonstra

    The debt which is acquired by the ECB under the PSPP is de facto already mutualized. The ECB could transform the liquidity surplus that has resulted from its purchasing programmes into new tradeable securities. The issuance of securities by a central bank is a market friendly instrument of open market operations, which already is used by many central banks all over the world. This would be a much smoother way of reducing bank liquidity than the other option: reselling its portfolio of bonds acquired under the PSPP. Second, a sizeable issue of ECB-securities will create a deep and liquid market for EMU-wide common safe assets, which gives the ECB the opportunity to conduct its open-market operations in the future exclusively in its own securities. Moreover, the presence of a well-developed market in a European common safe asset would greatly reduce the fragmentation risk of the eurozone. The debt acquired under the PSPP could remain on the Eurosystem’s balance sheet into eternity, meaning that the relevant public debt ratios of all member states decline substantially. To eliminate public hazard and to make sure that this de facto bail-out will never be repeated, it should be included in the TFEU that in the future the ECB is no longer allowed to purchase public debt of any member state. This is the package deal: member states must accept a much stronger EMU with more market discipline and a well-developed market in common safe assets. The bonus: a reduction of public debt ratios by approximately 25%.

  • Towards Sustainability: een kwaliteitsnorm voor duurzame financiële producten

    Thursday 1/9/2022
    Tom Van den Berghe

    The Towards Sustainability Initiative has engaged more than 100 financial institutions from over 10 countries to take their sustainable product offerings to the next level. End 2021, more than 700 products have achieved the Towards Sustainability label, representing 550 billion EUR of European and international assets managed according to the Towards Sustainability Quality Standard. In just two years since its launch end 2019, the Towards Sustainability label has become the market standard and benchmark for sustainable financial products in Belgium and increasingly also in many other European countries. Towards Sustainability has deliberately chosen to be a broad label, which aims to make its impact by appealing to a large group of diverse financial institutions on the one hand and being suitable for retail and institutional investors with different profiles on the other hand. In this way, it aims to gradually make the entire market of financial products more sustainable.

  • Duurzaam Beleggen Academy

    Thursday 1/9/2022
    Siem de Ruijter - Jasper Vekeman

    Anyone can invest sustainably. And it doesn't have to be complicated, nor does it require a lot of money. Those are the convictions of Siem de Ruijter (UCLL) and Jasper Vekeman (VFB) that led them to launch Duurzaam Beleggen Academy (Sustainable Investment Academy) earlier this year with a new e-learning platform and website. Their mission is to train as many people as possible in sustainable investing to put them on the road to a more sustainable financial life. The standard training, build on webinars and e-learning, aims for a retail audience. In addition, the Academy organizes special sessions, live or online, tailored for finance professionals.

  • Responsible Investing wordt stilaan de norm binnen KBC

    Thursday 1/9/2022
    Filip Ferrante

    At KBC, sustainability is an integral part of the group strategy: we want to play our role in society and hence we explicitly make more sustainable choices ourselves, but we also help our customers in their sustainable transition. We certainly do this in our mutual investment funds. In 1992 KBC was the first financial institution to launch a Responsible Investing fund on the Belgian market, and since then we have not been idle, says Filip Ferrante, Director Corporate Sustainability at KBC Group. We apply strict criteria and exclude weapons and fossil fuels, amongst other things. KBC has its responsible investment criteria assessed in two ways: on the one hand by the Responsible Investing Advisory Board, an independent advisory board of academics, and on the other by complying fully with the requirements of the 'Towards Sustainability' label. In this way, we guarantee our investors that their funds are invested in a responsible way. Responsible Investing is becoming the norm within KBC, and we welcome this wholeheartedly.