Asset Managers

The lack of transparency in sustainability legislation and poor corporate disclosure does not mean that we should not strive for sustainable investing and for more inclusion and gender equality in the asset management industry, argues Maxime Carmignac, managing director of Carmignac UK.

Carmignac is a privately-owned French asset management firm with some 32 billion euro in assets under management. The investment firm, founded in 1998, has had a presence also in Luxembourg since 1999.

Nordea and M&G on Thursday said they intend to cut jobs because the asset management industry is facing difficult market conditions. Both firms have a significant presence in Luxembourg. “The reason for the adjustment is the need to adapt to the market environment, because macroeconomic uncertainty remains high, and the asset management industry is facing significant mid-term uncertainty and volatility,” Nordea said.

Despite the veritable stock market crash in Vietnam last year, Southeast Asian equities kept their heads above water. This was mainly due to the positive performance of Thai and Indonesian stocks. For future performance, eyes are on the direction of the dollar, the positioning of global investors, as well as the global economic outlook.

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, the grand duchy’s leading fund and asset management association known as Alfi, turns 35 this year. It’s a milestone to be marked at its upcoming European Asset Management conference on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 March. 

Asset manager Robeco on Wednesday won the award for best asset manager in Morningstar’s Luxembourg Awards for Investing Excellence in 2023. The firm also won the new award as best asset manager in sustainable investing.

Dutch-based Robeco, with assets under management of approximately 200 billion euro, since 2016 is fully owned by Japanese financial services conglomerate Orix. With its awards Robeco beat competition Vanguard, J O Hambro, BNP Paribas and Candriam.

Investment research firm Morningstar is set to announce the winners of the 2023 Morningstar Awards for Excellence in Investing in Luxembourg. 

A total of 12 funds were nominated in the categories global equity fund, best Europe equity fund, best Euro bond fund and best Euro allocation fund. Morningstar also has selected six nominees for its Best Asset Manager and its Best Asset Manager Sustainable Finance awards.

The winners will be announced at a Luxembourg ceremony on Wednesday evening at 20:30 local time.

A survey conducted among 300 investment institutions, including asset managers, asset owners and insurance firms, has found a mixed understanding of digital assets among investment professionals. The results point to different levels of readiness to using digital assets and investment technology.

The crusade against “woke capitalism” is entering a new phase in the United States now that Republican politicians turn against ESG policies in asset management. Jan van Eck, chief executive of the global ETF boutique carrying his name, this interference is fully justified, regardless of where one stands on ESG and sustainability investments.

Responsible investment policies at two thirds of the world’s major asset managers, representing some 60 trillion dollars in assets under management, fall short of their objectives, leaving the firms with “serious gaps” in their practices, according to a report published by British NGO Shareaction.

Australian financial giant Macquarie is considering a bid worth more than 5 billion pounds (5.6 billion euro) for UK-headquartered fund manager and insurer M&G, which runs its non-UK European business from Luxembourg.