Day: 30 January 2017

Nearly 20 leading global banks and investors, with $6.6 trillion in assets, have launched an initiative called Principles for Positive Impact Finance to help foster the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.

This is “a first of its kind set of criteria for investments to be considered sustainable,” the UN said. The initiative involves 19 banks and major investors.

“The Principles are a timely initiative from the finance sector. They demonstrate the willingness of financial institutions to go beyond current practices and to contribute to foster a more sustainable development,” said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin. “They should provide strengthened foundations for a positive cooperation between public and private actors in this area.”

“Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals – the global action plan to end poverty, combat climate change and protect the environment – is expected to cost $5-7 trillion every year through 2030,” said Eric Usher, head of the UN Environment Finance Initiative.

“The Positive Impact Principles are a game changer, which will help to channel the hundreds of trillions of dollars managed by banks and investors towards clean, low-carbon and inclusive projects,” Mr Usher added.

The Principles provide financiers and investors with a global framework applicable across their different business lines, including retail and wholesale lending, corporate and investment lending and asset management, the UN said in a press release.

“With global challenges such as climate change, population growth and resource scarcity accelerating, there is an increased urgency for the finance sector both to adapt and to help bring about the necessary changes in our economic and business models. The Principles for Positive Impact Finance provide an ambitious yet practical framework by which we can take the broader angle view we need to meet the deeply complex and interconnected challenges of our time,” said Séverin Cabannes, Deputy CEO of Société Générale, a founding member of the group.

“The four Positive Impact Principles provide guidance for financiers and investors to analyse, monitor and disclose the social, environmental and economic impacts of the financial products and services they deliver,” the UN said.

The organisation added holistic appraisal of positive and negative impacts on economic development, human well-being and the environment will be required.

“The Principles do not prescribe a single method for achieving positive impact, but they require that appraisal processes and methodologies be transparent. The Principles are part of a broader process under the Positive Impact Manifesto, launched in 2015 to call for a new, impact-based financing paradigm to bridge the gap in financing for sustainable development,” the UN office said.

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The Monaco-based Superyacht Builders Association (SYBAss) has released a report indicating that ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) in the Middle East and North Africa region have a statistical propensity of 20 percent to buy a superyacht built in the last 15 years.

This compares with 46 percent for UHNWIs in Eastern Europe, 13 percent in Western Europe and six percent in North America. SYBass announced the figures in conjunction with the Dubai World Trade Centre, organisers of the Dubai International Boat Show, which runs from February 28 until March 4.

In a private report to SYBAss members at the General Assembly in Monaco last September, the number of MENA region UHNWIs – a household with a minimum of $250 million bankable assets – stood at 628 in 2015, an increase of three percent on the previous year.

SYBAss members include Amels, Baglietto, Benetti, CRN, Feadship, Fincantieri, Heesen, Lürssen, Mondomarine and Oceanco.

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Monaco resident Maurice Alain Amon has won the latest round in a court battle with his estranged wife over a $25 million art collection.

Tracey Hejailan-Amon had claimed that her husband, a Swiss businessman, had removed the art collection, believed to include works by Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst, from their Fifth Avenue New York apartment shortly before filing for divorce in order to deprive her of a share in its value.

She also said that the flat in the US was the couple’s home, a claim disputed by Mr Amon who said their principle residence had been in Monaco. To back up his argument, he revealed the contents of his wife’s walk-in wardrobe and a vast collection of shoes in their Monte Carlo property.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Robert Reed sided with Mr Amon in finding that the art collection was her husband’s property. Earlier in the ongoing legal battle, Mrs Hejailan-Amon had argued that the divorce case should be heard in New York, rather than in Monaco, which does not recognise shared marital property.

She could also face having to pay back to Mr Amon the $70 million in gifts that he showered on her during their eight years of marriage.

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Travelling on French motorways is about to become slightly more expensive, with tollbooth charges set to rise by an average of 0.8 percent from February 1.

Toll charges did not increase in 2016, but the French government and the motorway operating companies have argued that revenues need to be increased to pay for €800 million of new investment. The plan calls for 32 new intersections and 25 car-sharing facilities, of which 11 will be in the PACA region.

A total of 5,000 jobs will be created by the work, due to start at the end of 2017, according to the French authorities, who have said that tolls will go up by between 0.1 and 0.4 percent each year between 2019 and 2021.

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