Raymond Frenken

The sharp rise in the Swiss franc following U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran has brought an issue back into focus that many believed had been settled: negative interest rates in Switzerland.

Markets enter the week facing not simply another geopolitical headline, but the prospect of a structural energy repricing. After US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and Tehran retaliated across the region, investors are bracing for a sharp adjustment in oil and gas markets when trading resumes. The issue is no longer whether risk premia rise, but how disruptive and persistent they may become. “The implications for energy markets and commodities, especially for crude oil and LNG flows, are asymmetric and could trigger severe market reactions very soon,” said Cyril Widdershoven, a senior advisor at Blue Water Strategies.

When a US private credit fund closed its exit window to investors, confidence immediately came under pressure. The question is no longer just what went wrong, but whether the mechanisms underpinning these semi-liquid funds are functioning precisely as intended.

Artificial intelligence has unsettled software stocks for months. Now it is testing European credit markets and exposing fault lines in parts of private credit that were sold to investors as stable and uncorrelated. “If the software issue remains isolated, markets can cope. If it bleeds into the real economy, then all bets are off.”

Investments in private markets are still characterized by limited information and imperfect transparency, particularly when compared with public assets. Asset managers increasingly see economic value in addressing that gap, turning greater transparency into a business model in its own right.

Schroders has agreed to a 9.9 billion pound (11.4 billion euro) takeover by US-based Nuveen, ending 222 years of family ownership and marking a further shift in global asset management toward American dominance.

Our weekly update of appointments and promotions in European asset and wealth management and in Luxembourg finance.

EU financial regulation in 2026 will mean tougher scrutiny from supervisors and fewer new rules. With major frameworks on fund regulation, anti-money laundering, sustainability and market structure largely in place, the focus is shifting from lawmaking to enforcement. Across liquidity management, delegation and distribution, AML oversight and transparency requirements, experts see firms entering a year shaped by supervisory interpretation and uneven application.

Sustainable funds recorded their first full year of net outflows in 2025, after investors withdrew 84 billion dollars from ESG strategies worldwide, according to Morningstar data. While the headline figure suggests a sharp break with previous years, Morningstar said it overstates the extent to which investors are abandoning sustainable investing.

Luxembourg has renewed the mandate of Claude Marx as director general of its financial regulator, extending his leadership of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier for another five years as the authority marks a decade of profound institutional change.