Sustainable investing is one of the fastest-growing areas in money management as pension plans and other large investors plow money into the strategy. About $30.7 trillion was held in sustainable or green investments in 2018. 63% of money managers cited a lack of quality and consistent sustainability data as the biggest challenge in making such decisions.

The global rush for safer assets has fuelled a huge jump in the world’s stockpile of negative-yielding bonds. Last week brought the worldwide total to $12.4 trillion – the highest level in two months. The resurgence is a potent reminder that the market distortions synonymous with loose monetary policies have not gone away.

The policy used to fight sudden pressure on the Danish krone has now shaped a whole decade, with most economists predicting years more of the regime in Denmark. Bankers’ association says negative rates pose a serious threat. It estimates that life below zero cost the industry around 2.5 billion kroner ($371 million) last year alone.

Swiss private bankers say that clients have asked to withdraw large amounts of cash. The moves follow five years of negative interest rates. The policy, intended to keep the Swiss franc from appreciating, requires banks to pay to park money with the Swiss National Bank. Banks have passed a portion of the extra costs on to their most affluent customers.

The ECB will only start raising its key interest rate, currently set at minus 0.5%, once the eurozone inflation “robustly” meets the central bank’s target of just below 2%, Ms. Lagarde said. That is unlikely to happen for several years. The ECB has left open the option of cutting interest rates even further below zero if the economic outlook worsens.

Turkey joined negative rates club after the central bank decision. The central bank’s fifth straight round of easing under governor Murat Uysal pushed its real rate below zero, only months after Turkey boasted one of the highest inflation-adjusted yields in the world. The move brought the benchmark rate to 11.25%. Inflation capped last year at 11.8%.

Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan is finding it is hard to revert to normal monetary policy without risking an unwanted appreciation of the franc. Five years since Jordan jolted markets by introducing negative interest rates, the currency’s strength means there’s little chance he’ll be able to end the controversial policy any time soon.

Green bonds are red hot. Issuance smashed through projections in 2019 and will continue expanding this year as sustainability minded investors snap up almost every deal that hits the market. Moody’s had to revise its projection for the year 2019 from $200 billion to $250 billion. The average offering is more than three times oversubscribed.

The Finish EU presidency, the European Commission and the European Parliament on Monday evening all agreed on the common classification system for environmentally-sustainable investment. The final confirmation will be done by EU ambassadors on Wednesday and by a plenary vote that will probably take place in January 2020.

Negative yields are forcing insurers to diversify their investments. They are adding more esoteric fixed-income assets, private assets and real estate. Insurance-owned asset managers have struggled to adapt. They are at risk of losing business to external, independent asset managers with expertise in private debt, private equity and real estate.

Because green bond issues tend to be smaller, they tend to be less liquid. A green bond is (1) a regular bond plus (2) some green promises. Denmark’s proposed innovation is to sell those parts separately, a conventional government bond and a green certificate, which is a zero-coupon bond with zero redemption at maturity and can be traded separately.

After five years of negative rates imposed by the European Central Bank, German lenders are breaking the last taboo: Charging retail clients for their savings starting with very first euro in the their accounts. They are preparing for a prolonged period of negative rates as Europe’s economy slows. In September, the ECB reduced the deposit rate to minus 0.5%.