Catherine Murphy
Question:216. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if the Central Bank, as part of its investment strategies, has any interests directly in or with Israel; and if so, the details of same. [18094/24]
View answerTuesday, 23 April 2024
Questions (216)
Written answers
I am informed by the Central Bank of Ireland, that they held approximately €17bn of Investment Assets at the end of 2023, mostly invested in government bonds and other high-quality fixed income (bond) instruments issued by multilateral development banks, supranational organisations and government-linked agencies.
The Central Bank also holds equity investments, on a ‘passive basis’ i.e. using an external Asset Manager contracted to capture global equity market returns, on a fund which accounts for approximately three per cent of the Central Bank’s Investment Assets. This means that the external asset manager tracks the composition and performance of global equity indices as closely as possible.
The global developed market equity indices that the Bank’s asset manager tracks include two indices – the MSCI World Index and the MSCI World EU Paris-aligned Benchmark (PAB) Index – that have constituents companies listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchanges. As at end December, these Israel-listed equities accounted for approx. €500,000 or 0.003% of the Central Bank’s total Investment Assets of approx. €17bn.
The Central Bank of Ireland does not directly invest in Israel government bonds.
Since 2021, the Central Bank has participated in the US dollar-and euro-denominated green bond investment fund for central banks established by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The Central Bank owns a share of some USD 95m equivalent in a specialised investment fund for central banks of currently about USD 2.8 billion that invests in green bonds from qualifying issuers. The fund is designed such that investors (such as the Central Bank of Ireland) hold claims on the fund issuer (i.e. the BIS) according to the fund units that they own. Exposure to individual bonds at the investor level, therefore, is indirect and tends to be small.
While individual bond-level allocations are not publicly available, regional allocations at the latest reporting date (28 March 2024) suggest that most issuers reside in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas or are supranational entities. Exposures to Israel were part of an allocation of around 1% to Other regions. All of these investments are financing or re-financing eligible projects with clear environmental or climate-related benefits.