Asset Managers

While industry’s investment losses are beginning to show, the strong performance from recent years makes institutional investors reluctant to change their investment course. “Not an easy situation,” says the chief of Europe’s biggest pension body.

Top market experts at Europe’s biggest fund manager, Amundi, do not believe that the upcoming elections in Italy will trigger much volatility in Italian bond markets, although a spike could present a buying opportunity. Italy’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for the end of this week, Sunday 25 September.

Following 1.55 million euro in regulatory fines, Luxembourg investment firm Fuchs & Associés Finance SA is stepping up efforts to address internal compliance problems, adding additional directors and compliance staff to bring its governance back in line with legal requirements.

Belgian police authorities have launched a criminal investigation in Antwerp-based stockbroker Merit Capital, a Belgian press report said on Thursday. The probe is linked to its transactions with H2O Asset Management.

Merit Capital’s future is up in the air after several attempts to find a buyer failed. Luxembourg’s Fuchs & Associés was forced to step back as a possible buyer last month. 

German state-owned bank KfW has become the first to have issued a total of more than 50 billion euro in green bonds on the Luxembourg Green Exchange, known as LGX, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange said. This achievement was marked by a LuxSE bell ceremony on Monday.

KfW issued its first green bond 8 years ago and has since issued about 100 green bonds, raising some 50 billion euro for green projects. Its significant green funding programme makes KfW one of the 10 largest sustainable bond issuers in the world.

Luxembourg’s financial regulator CSSF imposed a total of 4.3 million euro in fines on financial services companies in the Grand Duchy last year, less than the 6 million euro in fines issued in 2020. Most fines were imposed under laws preventing money-laundering and terrorism finance, according to CSSF’s 2021 annual report.

Degroof Petercam on Wednesday said it has strengthened its partnership with Swiss-based impact investor Quadia by participating in a capital increase. Financial details were not disclosed. 

Following the capital increase, Basel-based Hanaku AG becomes a new strategic shareholder next to Degroof Petercam. Hanaku is a net zero emission focused Swiss holding company specialised in energy transition through infrastructure and finance.

One month after the EU ordered the investment sector to ask clients for their sustainability preferences, investment firms appear to show limited enthusiasm for complying with the new requirements as complexity around the EU’s ESG rules persists and greenwashing fears linger.

Finland’s Mandatum Asset Management and fund services platform Universal Investment on Monday said they have launched a new open-ended Senior Secured Loan Fund for professional investors in Europe that will finance leveraged buyouts in Scandinavia and Europe. The fund is structured as a Luxembourg Raif and targets approximately one billion euro on the long term.

Eurozone small-cap equity funds cannot exactly count on warm interest from investors. The assets under management are considerably lower than for funds within the European small-cap category, for example. Moreover, investors have been withdrawing money from the funds on balance for years. This year, this waning interest will not change given the mediocre performance over the first seven months.