Finance
2024 predictions: Blended finance to grow bigger in Asia | ESG | AsianInvestor
This is a four-part series of thematic predictions for 2024. This is the fourth story.
Blended finance is poised to gain a lot more traction in Asia as a means of driving private investment toward sustainable development goals, if key challenges around awareness, policy incentives, and aggregating deals to mobilise capital at scale can be addressed.
Anthony Gao,
Pictect Wealth Management
In Asia, where blended finance is still a relatively new approach for philanthropic capital, Pictet Wealth Management’s Asia head of philanthropy services, Anthony Gao, expects to see more adoption in proof-of-concept pilots and in the project-preparation stage.
“Public sector funding will continue to play a significant role in shaping and driving the adoption,” Gao told AsianInvestor.
Over the past few years, Asia has seen some adoption by philanthropic capital not only in the climate space, but also on social topics like education and health, especially in South Asia and Southeast Asia, said Gao.
There has also been a large uptick in the number of development finance institutions convening to focus on the topic, and strong interest among key stakeholders such as philanthropists, family offices, and commercial financial institutions.
“Asia has the highest concentrations of middle-income countries, where significant social and environment impact can be achieved with a manageable level of risk, and we should be able to see much more upside in the region with the right support and incentives,” said Gao.
With the ability to channel and coordinate efforts to address key challenges, blended finance has the potential to grow exponentially in Asia to meet the region’s substantial sustainable development funding needs, he said.
AWARENESS AND INCENTIVES
Unlocking blended finance’s potential at scale requires new levels of collaboration between public, private and philanthropic partners.
With rapid growth in the number of impact-focused investors, Gao sees education and policy barriers as key obstacles to tapping the massive potential of blended finance. The role of governments in key economies will also be critical to the model’s success.
“We need to raise awareness, through more education and sharing of best practices,” said Gao. “Governments must also introduce targeted incentives enabling blended finance and remove obstacles in order to allow participants to make return-generating financial investments.”
Also read: CDPQ Asia head: Blended finance’s big potential for EMs
Fragmented deals and instruments remain a barrier to large-scale institutional investment.
“Development finance institutions and the commercial ones should do more aggregating of blended finance projects, to address the challenges of attracting investment capital due to the size,” said Gao.
NO STANDARD SOLUTIONS
Blended finance solutions must correspond to local investor types, policy environments, time horizons and asset classes, according to Ou Yong Xuan Sheng, an ESG and green bond analyst at BNP Paribas Asset Management, who believes one-size-fits-all approaches are unlikely to succeed.
In Asia, the main challenge addressed by blended finance is the high cost of capital for projects in the emerging and frontier markets, he said.
Ou Yong Xuan Sheng,
BNPPAM
“We can think about Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia as examples of markets where cost of capital is prohibitive for projects. These markets are also in great need for sustainable infrastructure as these markets grow and develop to avoid locking in polluting infrastructure,” Ou Yong told AsianInvestor.
Blended finance could also help finance the early decommissioning of coal related assets, where capital is required to fund both the opportunity cost of early retirement and the operation of the assets until they are offline.
“Opportunity costs are usually a thought exercise but in early retirement, it becomes actual costs to existing investors of the assets who now have to cut short the investment payback timeline,” said Ou Yong.
“We don’t think there is any standard framework for risk-sharing instruments because it will have to be crafted and designed for individual situations—types of existing investors, types of public capital available, timeframes, type of assets, etc. In other words, it can be difficult to scale blended finance as a standard product or vehicle.”
MEASURING SUCCESS
Gao asserted that the true measure of blended finance’s efficacy hinges on leverage, additionality, and sustainability.
“Leverage refers to the ability to catalyse a multiplier effect by drawing in commercial investment,” he explained. “Additionality is about remedying market shortcomings or introducing financial instruments that have been scarce. Sustainability entails producing significant risk-adjusted returns in order to maintain the flow of investment capital.”
While Gao acknowledged the common metrics for assessing impact, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and job creation, he advocated for a more region-specific approach.
“It will be helpful for Asian stakeholders to refine and adopt clearer taxonomy and standards based on Asian context,” he said.
¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.
Finance
Martha Aguirre, former El Paso ISD interim superintendent, resigns as CFO as district finds ‘key financial challenges’
El Paso Independent School District Chief Financial Officer Martha Aguirre, who served as interim superintendent last year, resigned this week as the district said it had discovered “key financial challenges.”
The district issued a news release late Thursday afternoon that lacked details but indicated that a recent review had raised questions about the district’s fund balances, a key indicator of financial health.
“Through this process, key financial challenges were identified that must be addressed prior to closing out the 2025-26 school year including a current budget shortfall that is being actively addressed ahead of the district’s final financial presentation to the Board of Trustees in June,” the news release said.
A CFO is charged with developing a school district’s budget and overseeing its finance department. The EPISD Board of Trustees must adopt a budget for the 2026-27 school year by the end of the fiscal year June 30. The operating budget for the current school year is $547 million.
EPISD Deputy Superintendent David Bates will oversee the budget while the district searches for an interim and permanent CFO, district officials said in a statement.
EPISD Board President Leah Hanany said trustees were notified about Aguirre’s resignation this week. She said the district plans to give the public more information on the current year’s budget during a board meeting later this month.
“The board was also notified of a potential budget shortfall for the 2025 budget, but we don’t have final numbers yet. My understanding is that we are still primed to pass a balanced budget for fiscal year 2026-27 in June,” Hanany said in a statement.
Aguirre could not be reached for comment. EPISD’s CFO makes $148,200 to $209,900 a year, according to the district’s administrative pay plan.
She served as EPISD’s interim superintendent from June to December 2025 after the district’s former superintendent, Diana Sayavedra, resigned under pressure from the board. She returned to her position as CFO when Brian Lusk was hired as EPISD’s new permanent superintendent.
Aguirre’s resignation comes amid an uncertain budget season after a state funding calculation error tied to school property tax breaks caused EPISD to lose out on $17 million in projected revenue. In late April, EPISD officials estimated it would cause the district’s spending to exceed its revenue next year by $10 million.
The district is also considering calling for a bond election in November to upgrade its aging campuses as part of the larger 2024 Destination District Redesign initiative to close schools and improve the ones that remain open.
El Paso Teachers’ Association President Norma De La Rosa said Aguirre’s departure was unexpected.
“We’re right in the middle of the committee meetings for a possible bond and getting ready to get that budget to the June board meeting for next school year. So, to say that I’m highly surprised is an understatement,” De La Rosa told El Paso Matters.
Aguirre started working with the district in 1996 as a general clerk, according to a video published by the district.
When Colangelo College of Business students step into the Charles Schwab Foundation Finance Center this fall, they might feel like they’ve stepped onto a trading floor instead of into a Grand Canyon University classroom.
Renovations, which will begin this summer, come just two months after the announcement that students will be providing research for a stock exchange-traded fund as part of the college’s partnership with Christian financial firm Faith Investment Services.
Plans for the finance center’s remodeling are to incorporate a large ticker board in the center of the room, flanked by two smaller ticker boards that will scroll stock exchange listings.
“The Schwab Center not only has the look and feel of Wall Street, but the latest Bloomberg technology for our students to execute their research assignments,” CCOB Dean John Kaites said.
The frosting on the glass wall along the main corridor of the first floor of the CCOB will be lowered enough to allow tour groups to see inside the room while not distracting students during class.
The space, which will accommodate 34 students, serves as a finance learning center and lab for exams designed to help students get certified for the finance industry.
Business college leaders see the changes as a way to raise the profile of the CCOB and Schwab Center.
“As our students experience real-life research for the New York Stock exchange traded ETF: FTHB, they will have a learning environment that is compatible with their work,” Kaites said.
GCU earned national attention when the FIS Faith Income exchange-traded fund was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange (FTHB). This fund is believed to be the first ETF – a tradable fund containing a mix of investments organized around a strategy – that provides educational opportunities to students.
CCOB and College of Theology students research high-quality funds as part of that partnership. They are not paid for their work but receive valuable experience.
The CCOB lobby, used frequently for the T.W. Lewis Speaker series and club meetings, also will be remodeled. The northwest corner of the lobby, used often for studying and small gatherings, will be transformed into two offices. Space will remain so students can continue gathering and studying in that area.
The reception desk – where student workers often direct foot traffic at the busiest part of the four-story, 150,000-square-foot building – will be repositioned so it will face the college’s entrance.
The CCOB was revamped last summer to add the T.W. Lewis Center for Student Success, a multifaceted facility that features a broadcast studio with a stick ticker, a podcast room and a broadcast control room.
A Career Services Center also was added on the first floor.
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
In Q1 2026, EfTEN United Property Fund earned 461 thousand euros in net profit (Q1 2025: 703 thousand euros). The decline in profit is primarily related to the Fund’s investment in EfTEN Real Estate Fund AS shares, whose price on the Tallinn Stock Exchange increased 2.9% in Q1 2026 compared with 4.5% in the same period of 2025. In addition, interest income from the investment in the development company Invego Uus-Järveküla OÜ decreased year-on-year, as the development company repaid the principal and interest of the shareholder loan to the Fund in full in mid-March.
Despite the decline in profit, EfTEN United Property Fund AS received record owner income from its underlying funds at the beginning of 2026. This forms the basis for the Fund’s first distribution of the year to investors in Q2 2026, in the amount of approximately one million euros. The distribution is based on dividends and income received from all underlying funds, as well as interest from the Invego Uus-Järveküla OÜ and the Menulio 7 office building shareholder loans. The distribution does not include the profit from the Invego Uus-Järveküla development project, which the Fund plans to distribute largely in the second half of the year.
Since EfTEN United Property Fund’s portfolio is diversified across nearly 50 different properties in the Baltic states, developments across all segments of the regional real estate market affect the Fund’s results. There have been no major changes in the Baltic commercial real estate market over the last few quarters. In the residential real estate market, however, sales of new developments have improved in all Baltic states. In Tallinn, monthly sales of new developments grew to approximately 160 units per month in Q1 2026, compared with an average of around 100 units in 2024 and the first half of 2025. The biggest jump in the Baltic states was made by the Vilnius new-development market, where — partly thanks to expectations of funds being released from the second pension pillar — Q1 2026 sales volumes reached all-time highs, at times reaching up to 700 units per month.
The pace of sales also remained strong at the start of the year in Invego Uus-Järveküla OÜ, the development company for the Uus-Järveküla residential district in which EfTEN United Property Fund holds an 80% stake. In the first quarter, 22 units were sold (real rights contracts signed) and reservation agreements were concluded for three terraced houses. As of the end of the quarter, 8 terraced houses in the development remain unreserved. In March, Invego Uus-Järveküla OÜ repaid its entire bank loan and returned the shareholder loan to the Fund in full (1.51 million euros) along with the accrued interest (56 thousand euros). EfTEN United Property Fund invested a total of 3.52 million euros in the Uus-Järveküla development project in 2021 and 2023, and has to date received 4.8 million euros back.
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