Independent Belgian consulting firm Finvex Group has started to roll out its sustainable indices in Austria, Germany, Italy and Ireland, with more countries to follow soon in Europe, according to Benedict Peeters, the firm’s chief executive.

“We have sold a minimum of 20 products [linked to our indices] year to date,” said Peeters of Finvex, which is a strategic partner to Société Générale but also offers services to other financial institutions and fund managers.

Peeters said investors are becoming more aware of the performance of the Finvex Sustainable & Efficient Europe 30 and World 30 indices, of which the European index recently got certified by Forum Ethibel, an organisation for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and socially responsible investing (SRI).

“The [Finvex sustainable] indices boost better returns than the market, plus they are more stable,” he said. “Many benchmarks do not succeed in beating the market and we don’t always either, but what we can do is to reduce the risk of the market fairly consistently,” added Peeters.

Belgium
Finvex started the year with a number of transactions in its domestic market, Belgium, via Delta Lloyd Bank, Deutsche Bank, SG Private Bank and Optima Bank; while a number of other Belgian providers are about to launch structured products linked to the Finvex sustainable indices within the next few weeks.

“At the beginning of May we will go public with a larger banking network, followed by a very large Belgian insurer,” said Peeters.

According to Peeters there is a healthy pipeline. “It is more than likely that another two banks and another two insurers will issue structured products linked to the [Finvex sustainable] indices before the summer,” he said.

Germany and Austria
In Germany and Austria Finvex has teamed up with Société Générale for the launch of a six-year capital-protected structure (Nachhaltigkeits-Anleihe 07/14-07/20), which has been brought to market via special purpose vehicle SG Issuer.

“There is currently a lot of money invested in sustainability, a topic that is very popular in Germany and Austria,” Philip Piltz, head of retail distribution for Germany and Austria at Société Générale, told SRP.

“The [Finvex sustainable] index is risk optimised and has low volatility,” added Piltz. “This allows for attractive pricing and a better pay-out [structure] than for instance the benchmark Eurostoxx50, which needs a longer investment term to obtain a high participation.”

Société Générale is distributing the product via savings banks, asset managers, independent financial advisers and private banks, according to Piltz. “The [Finvex sustainable] index is also attracting interest from insurance companies, which is a major industry in Germany.”

International
Across Europe a number of distributors, including Bâloise Vie Luxembourg in Italy and BCP Asset Management in Ireland, have jumped on the Finvex bandwagon.

“Before the summer we hope to see a number of products in Spain and Portugal, while we are also looking at the Netherlands, although that’s a more difficult market,” Peeters said.

Public offers aside, Finvex has also licensed its indices to be used in a number of private placements in Switzerland and Scandinavia as well as in various transactions with institutional investors.

Click here to view some of the products linked to the Finvex sustainable indices