On Wednesday, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE / Bourse) held their annual general meeting (AGM) concerning their 2015 results, following which the board of directors unanimously re-elected Frank Wagener as chairman of the board - he has been on the LuxSE board since 2007 and its chairman since 2011; this was followed by a press conference in which they presented their 2015 annual report.

In 2015, the Bourse experienced 10,991 new securities, an increase of 3%, totalling €1,000 billion, underlying the Bourse's growing reputation in international bonds, particularly in Green Bonds, with Luxembourg counting for 50% of that market world-wide (first traded in 2007 - perceived as a pioneer for this).

LuxSE had a turnover of €45 million in 2015, a rise of 5% on 2014, primarily due to the success of Fundsquare, its subsidiary. With its costs stable, it was able to offer a dividend of €0.60 per share (unchanged). The Bourse's profit for the year increased by 16% to reach €12.6 million.

Commenting on these results, Robert Scharfe, CEO of LuxSE, said “We have invested significantly in human resources and our knowledge networks and these results show that we are creating a new ecosystem around the services of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. For the future, we see great potential in green bonds, an area that is important to us as the leading international listing venue and one in which we are committed to play a proactive role.”

Its total Green Bonds amount to €40 billion in over 100 bonds across 20 different devices. After last year's COP21 in Paris, this area increased significantly in activity.

Robert Scharfe explained that with funding through capital markets still growing, partly due to limitations in the banking sector; despite the volume of transactions dropping, higher individual amounts are being seen in transactions. He stressed that Luxembourg will need to be active as other markets will be trying to attract some of this business going forward. On the other hand, the volume of business in Islamic Finance has dropped off, primarily due to more stable financial markets after the 2008-09 economic downturn.

For Fundsquare, FATCA now covers 70% of the market, with 6,000 entities now compliant; it's turnover rose 22% in 2015 (20% in 2014); it provides regulatory reporting and information on funds.

The Bourse now employs 156 staff, having taken on 12 new staff in 2015. It can be described as a link between investors and entrepreneurs, working in capital markets and forming a source of financing for companies during the "credit crunch", as well as playing an important role in the diversification of the financial sector - with green bonds, Sukuks (Islamic finance) and RMB (Chinese Renmimbi) all traded, with the latter representing 43% of worldwide trades outside China; 3,000 international brands trade on the LSE.

As well as promoting sustainable investing and green bonds, the LuxSE is also supporting responsible financing in the Grand Duchy, along with other players.

Photo by Geoff Thompson (L-R): Julie Becker, member of the Board; Robert Scharfe, CEO of LuxSE; Frank Wagner, President of the LuxSE; Maurice Bauer, Secretary General of LuxSE