News

In a dawn raid on Friday, Luxembourg judicial authorities searched for documents of two holding companies controlled by US hedge fund Elliott Management in relation to last year’s 1.2 billion euro sale of Italian football club AC Milan. Although it has formally closed, the sale is still contested by a third Luxembourg holding company, Blue Skye Financial Partners, which owned a small minority stake in AC Milan and which claims it has fallen victim to fraud under Luxembourg law.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen can no longer ignore the fact that the dollar is used as a weapon to quash unwanted behaviour by rivals. It comes with risks of national interest. Imposing financial sanctions linked to the dollar’s role could eventually undermine the dollar’s hegemony, she said.

A total of 30 new Reserved Alternative Investment Funds, or Raifs, were added to the Luxembourg Business Register during March 2023, down from 40 in the same month a year earlier. During the first quarter, 15 percent fewer Raifs were registered than in the same period last year.

A recent European Central Bank study calling for a regulatory framework to address instability in the market for Real Estate Investment Funds, known as Reifs, has been downplayed by a growing number of real estate specialists contacted by Investment Officer in Luxembourg and London. 

As many as 70% of the ETFs touted as the most sustainable in their class by the fund companies that offered them have been downgraded in one year. Rather than aiming for sustainable investment, passive funds were found to incorporate only one ESG factor.

Although there’s consensus on clouds hanging over private real estate markets while some investors here still face a rough ride, instability in the market for Real Estate Investment Funds, known as REIFs, - unlike the European Central Bank - is not seen as an immediate systemic threat to the real economy, according to real estate specialists in Luxembourg and London.

Switzerland’s financial markets supervisor is defending its decision to force a 16 billion Swiss franc (16 billion euro) write-off in Credit Suisse debt securities that were designed to function as a shock absorber in case of a major financial event.

Following Sunday’s announcement about the “shotgun wedding” between Credit Suisse and UBS, financial markets raised questions and possible legal challenges about the status of this particular type of debt, known as AT1 and as CoCos, or contingent convertibles. 

After 300 basis points in six subsequent rate hikes since last July, the European Central Bank on Thursday stopped talking about further increases in eurozone interest rates. The ECB is unsure about its next steps now the effects of higher rates are being felt by businesses, households and banks. It also sees that its policy is transmitting “rather rapidly” into the economy. 

Financial markets on Monday appeared to position themselves for a slower pace of rate hikes in the US, or even a pause, amid talk that the Federal Reserve may adopt a more cautious monetary policy following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The European Central Bank this week still is expected to raise interest rates by 50 percent amid the global market turmoil caused by the collapse of SVB, which fell victim due to mismanagement of its interest rate risks. 

Has the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank ignited fears of a new financial crisis? Or is its demise incidental, offering investors an excuse to take profits on attractive gains that bank sector stocks booked in recent months?

As European financial markets closed on Friday, worried investment professionals were hard to find. The sentiment and rising interest rates however are clearly recognised as risk factors.