A Zurich-based impact investment manager – which says it is the largest manager in the field of microfinance – has gained a Ucits licence.
BlueOrchard gained permission from the CSSF, Luxembourg’s financial services regulator, and is to launch a liquid microfinance fund.
The firm, which says its microfinance investments address UN Sustainable Development Goals, provided access to financial services to an additional 2 million low-income individuals in the first six months of this year. This equated to more than $5 billion distributed across 80 emerging and frontier markets. The firm’s strategies have supported over 37 million low-income individuals in total.
BlueOrchard said it had seen solid performance and growth across all its strategies and products in the first half of the year, with investors from the US, Sweden and Japan in its funds.
Patrick Scheurle, chief executive of BlueOrchard, said: “With the Ucits licence, we can now launch Ucits funds, as a response to the increased demand for Ucits-compliant impact investing solutions. We will analyse the social and environmental performance of the investments based on a modified version of BlueOrchard’s industry-wide recognized proprietary social performance assessment tool, Spirit.”
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