Luxembourg 11 May 2022: At this morning’s annual general meeting of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE), the shareholders of the exchange appointed Alain Kinsch to LuxSE’s board of directors. Alain Kinsch was subsequently elected as Chairman by LuxSE’s board members and takes over from Frank Wagener as of today. Frank Wagener has acted as Chairman of the board of directors of LuxSE since 2011 and announced his plans to retire from this position last year.

“It has been an honour for me to be the Chairman of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange for the past 11 years and closely follow the company’s successful journey, marked by its growing international footprint, its pioneering role in sustainable finance and digital innovation. With his impressive professional career, and his in-depth knowledge of the Luxembourg financial centre and the needs of international clients, I am confident that my successor Alain Kinsch will bring complementary expertise and a fresh mindset to the board and provide support to CEO Julie Becker and her leadership team,” commented Frank Wagener, outgoing Chairman of the board of directors of LuxSE.

Unique experience

Alain Kinsch is serving on the board of several national and international companies as an independent director and is Vice-President of the Luxembourg State Council. He is well known for his highly successful tenure at EY, where he was the Country Managing Partner of EY Luxembourg from 2009 to 2020. Specialising in private equity, he served as EY’s Private Equity fund leader for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa in the same period. Alain Kinsch is also the co-founder of the Luxembourg Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (LPEA).

“It is a privilege for me to take over as Chairman of the board of directors of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. With its central position at the heart of the financial ecosystem in Luxembourg coupled with its international reach and its ability to stay ahead of the curve, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange has contributed greatly to the development of our financial centre, an objective I have personally been committed to for the past 25 years and look forward to pursuing in the new role,” stated Alain Kinsch, the newly elected Chairman of the board of directors of LuxSE.

Strong financial performance

At the AGM, LuxSE published its financial results for the financial year ending on 31 December 2021, reporting record growth. 

The Luxembourg Stock Exchange Group, which consists of LuxSE and its wholly owned subsidiary Fundsquare, reported consolidated revenues of EUR 55.4 million for the financial year 2021. This represents a revenue growth of 8.1% compared to the previous year. The group also reported a net profit of EUR 13.5 million, up 20.5% from 2020.

The strong financial performance in 2021 was driven by a considerable growth in the number of new listings. In the course of 2021, LuxSE welcomed 12,687 new securities on its markets and on the LuxSE Securities Official List, up 17% compared to 2020. This makes 2021 the strongest year for LuxSE in terms of new listings since 2008. At the end of 2021, LuxSE reported a total of 37,839 listed securities, up 2% compared to 2020.

“After a challenging 2020 marked by the pandemic, economic activity picked up across the world in 2021, and this was reflected on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. We saw a considerable increase in listing activities on our exchange last year and this resulted in a strong financial performance. 2021 was also a record year for sustainable finance, both globally and on LGX, and we continued to contribute to the transformation of finance through new products and services. 2022 is likely to be marked by a challenging geopolitical and economic context and the war in Ukraine, and this makes our focus on the increasingly urgent green and digital transitions even more important,” explained Julie Becker, CEO of LuxSE.

Highlights of 2021

2021 was a year of milestones for the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities. LGX reached the 1,000 sustainable bonds mark in May and marked its 5 years of existence in September. LuxSE developed the platform further by adding a section for Climate-Aligned issuers, which features companies that derive at least 75% of their revenues from environmentally friendly activities. The exchange also revamped the existing fund window on LGX to reflect the fund classification brought by the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

In terms of its focus on technology, LuxSE continued to invest in tech start-ups and completed the first, fully digital listing via the Origin platform.