Post de Benoît van den Hove

Looking forward to contribute to this panel. How can policy be supportive for our life science ecosystem and industry? #KfG2024

Starting the day with a keynote! This time I had to honour to shed my light on recent evolutions in sustainable finance during a breakfast session on ‘Delivering Sustainability through ESG Compliance’ of Liedekerke . With the publication of the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Finance in 2018, we have arrived in a new era, of scope and speed. But although we have are leading the way in sustainability in the continent and our funds industry, there are still steps needed to be taken. For instance, there still seems to be a disconnect between investors and corporates where the respective expectations are not aligned yet. In my humble opinion, the real gamechanger will come with sustainable and climate litigation. A simple fact, but one that need close attention and a change in mindset. Thank you Liederkerke and Tom Van Dyck in particular for this invitation. It was a fascinating opportunity to share my thoughts on sustainable finance and the transformation of the economy towards more sustainable practices, to those present from our Belgian (legal) ecosystem today. Let’s inspire ourselves to the next steps! #sustainablefinance #esginvesting #esg #sfdr #csrd #eutaxonomy

Hartelijk dank aan Vlaamse Jonge Ondernemingen vzw (Vlajo) voor de opportuniteit om een “Ondernemer voor de klas” sessie te hebben mogen geven in het Regina Caelilyceum van Dilbeek. De Vlajo-missie is om de brug tussen onderwijs en bedrijfsleven te verstevigen en jongeren te inspireren tot een ondernemende carrière. Het was fijn om de belangstelling van de leerlingen te zien voor het ecosysteem van de beurs, investeren en beleggen maar ook het financieren van ondernemingen. Financiële geletterdheid is een cruciale competentie voor de volwassenen van morgen. Ik was blij om mijn steentje bij te dragen. Dank aan de leerkracht Marianne Lievens voor de opportuniteit ! #financielegeletterdheid

🚀💥What a fantastic way to end the week ! We welcomed this morning a group of teenagers participating in the final of the European Money Quiz organized by the European Banking Federation. They were accompanied by their teachers and parents. In teams of two, they all represent their home country. Financial literacy is crucial for our society and we are happy to support this kind of initiatives. #financialliteracy #europeanmoneyquiz

Many thanks to BETTER FINANCE - European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users for the opportunity to speak during their conference “Breathing New Life into the Capital Markets Union | A Blueprint for the Next EU Parliament” and specifically during the panel on how to empower retail investors to increase their participation in the Capital Markets. It was a pleasure to interact with my fellow panelists and share my insights with them and the audience. Learning from experience and best practices will be key to encourage retail investor participation. In this sense, the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) proposal could offer a unique opportunity to increase retail investors’ participation in EU capital markets. We suggest reconsidering the current proposals moving beyond discussion on costs and risks and consider the true purpose here: provide and promote retail access to capital markets and focus on a more investor-centric approach that looks into the goals and strategies of retail investors, their behaviour, risk appetite and their investment priorities. We need to take a balanced approach that takes into account investor protection concerns while incentivise retail investor participation in capital markets and their access to a diversified product offering, through (i) a harmonized treatment of retail investors across Member States, (ii) a roll-out of systematic financial literacy training and (iii) measures to incentivise research coverage to improve transparency on listed companies. In that respect, bringing value for money to retail investors is an important objective to boost retail investor participation. This being said, a mere focus on costs can have as side effect that listed products complying with the highest disclosure standards are disadvantaged because of their higher cost structure.

Grateful to have the Greenhill Capital Belgium team on our floor last week ! It is always a nice opportunity to interact with ambitious students, especially when they invest in Belgian stocks listed on Euronext 😄. Many thanks to Maya Van de Velde for giving the joint presentation.

We are hiring !

We welcomed the Econopolis Belgian Champions Fund to our bell stage this morning to kick off a new day of trading. With a performance of 6.8% in 2023, the Econopolis team demonstrated two key points: 1️⃣ Actively managed funds can outperform passive funds with expertise, good knowledge of corporates, and a keen sense of timing. 2️⃣ Unknown gems in the Small & Midcap arena can be just as worthwhile, as demonstrated by the results of, for instance, the BEL Mid index, outperforming the European Blue indices for several years now. With regards to our Small and Midcaps gems: this is why we as Euronext aim to support those companies where we can. Through initiatives such as Euronext Tech Leaders, co-sponsored roadshows, and specific measures and proposals to increase liquidity through retail investment. Now, let's hope that the reimbursement of our famous state bond on 4 September 2024 will also contribute to the real economy in Belgium through investment in our Small and Midcaps gems. Congratulations Danny Van Quaethem !