Asset Managers

Luxembourg alternative investment fund manager FundRock, part of the Apex Group, has been given a fine of 45,800 euro by Luxembourg’s financial regulator CSSF because the firm did not properly apply the rules relating to benchmarks.

Private markets, in particular those for digital infrastructure investments, continue to appeal to European institutional investors, according to a global survey among 480 institutional investors presented on Tuesday by State Street. The survey also shows that European investors are a bit more reluctant than others to invest in private equity.

Economists at PGIM Fixed Income have suggested converting Ukraine’s dire debt obligations into new debt. These so-called “freedom bonds” could be backed by frozen Russian assets, according to the bond house. Such a proposal would receive great interest in Luxembourg, home to about one third of Russian assets frozen in the EU.

The year 2022 will go down in the books as a pitch-black year for investors. A cocktail of worrying developments, including a spike in inflation, tightening monetary policy, the economic implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an energy crisis and recession fears, resulted in a historically bad investment year in which both equity and bond investors suffered hefty losses.

A major shift in the Dutch retail investor market. Netherlands’ largest fund house Robeco decides to focus entirely on institutional and wholesale investors and, with pain in its heart, says goodbye to retail investors. With the takeover, Evi van Lanschot suddenly comes of age.

In one fell swoop, Evi, the retail arm of investment bank Van Lanschot Kempen, gains 125,000 new clients. That is a six-fold increase in the client base. Assets under management jump from 1.3 billion euros to six billion. 

Private assets might have dropped significantly in value since the “good years” of 2020 and 2021, but despite a bad year in 2022, they’re still outperforming public market returns by quite a margin, explained Schroders Capital’s chief investment officer Nils Rode at his firm’s private assets 2021 outlook this week.  History shows that private assets investors could have a strong year in 2023 despite the bad overall macroeconomic conditions, he argued.

New York Life, America’s largest mutual life insurer, has named Naïm Abou-Jaoudé as chief executive officer of New York Life Investment Management.  Vincent Hamelink (photo), Candriam chief investment officer, will succeed Abou-Jaoudé as CEO of Candriam.

The EU’s top financial markets authority on Thursday invited the European Commission to clarify new sustainability reporting requirements for European companies and to make its legislation for non-financial reporting standards more consistent with other pieces of EU legislation.

Los Angeles-based Capital Group, a major global investment manager also present in Luxembourg, on Thursday said that Mike Gitlin from October will assume the management responsibilities of Tim Armour, chairman and chief executive officer. Armour and vice chairman president Rob Lovelace Armour and Lovelace will both step down from Capital Group’s management committee in October of this year.

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF has levied a 22,100 euro fine against alternative investment fund manager Pemberton Asset Management SA after a 2020 inspection found  “failures” in risk management, organisational requirements and supervising delegated activities under Luxembourg’s AIFM law, the regulator announced on Tuesday.