Asset Managers

Eliana de Abreu has put forward as managing director of Crédit Mutuel Asset Management, the firm’s parent company Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale has announced. Once the board has approved her appointment, De Abreu will be responsible for fund management and developing the range of investment solutions, based on an extra-financial expertise, consistent with the ambitions of a sustainable asset manager.

Although discussions about environmental and social governance, or ESG, and sustainable investing may have encountered a lull during recent weeks, investors and asset owners worldwide still consider this topic as hugely significant in their discussions with asset managers, according to one of Europe’s top chief investment officers.

Fund managers are beefing up their exchange-traded fund (ETF) ranges, to judge from a recent flurry of product launches. Luxembourg’s fund industry faces a dual threat: these ETFs launched in Ireland and are taking market share from traditional Ucits mutual funds, its core product.

Both Paris-based AXA Investment Management and Boston-based Fidelity Investments have recently launched products offering active management and research at a lower cost.

Koen Van de Maele, the new president of the Belgian Asset Manager Association, or Beama, began his career at what is now Candriam. He shared his views on the evolving sector of sustainable fund management. 

The UK’s financial supervisor still sees shortcomings in the asset management industry in regards to sustainable investment funds ahead of its publication of more stringent anti-greenwashing rules.  

European regulators, especially those in Paris and Luxembourg, are at odds over the regulatory and technical standards for the updated European Long Term Investment Funds scheme, known as Eltif 2.0, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Predicting future interest rates is a favorite activity among economists and strategists, but Dimensional Fund Advisors takes a unique stance. “Forward rates are the best guide when positioning bond portfolios for higher expected returns,” they assert, dismissing the predictions of journalists and other ECB/Fed watchers.

Bonds are now recognised as a legitimate investment alternative, long overdue for acknowledgment. Peter De Coensel, CEO of Degroof Petercam Asset Management (DPAM) since 2021 and a seasoned bond market specialist, discusses this resurgence in value.

De Coensel highlights a dramatic shift in bond markets, noting a return to valuations not seen in nearly two decades, occurring in three distinct phases.

Funds For Good, in partnership with Banque de Luxembourg Investments, is broadening its range with two new impact-focused equity funds in the US and Europe.

Average fees paid to directors of investment funds in Luxembourg and Ireland are down significantly when compared to last year in what appears to be a reflection of a shift in the way that funds reimburse their directors, according to a new report issued on Monday.