Investment Officer

This week’s overview of transfers in the fund and asset management sector includes appointments at Axa Investment Managers, Allianz Global Investors, Alter Domus and Linklaters.

Chantal Free has been appointed at the new chief executive officer at Ocorian, a global asset services provider that also is present in Luxembourg.

Free joins Ocorian from Capita where she was CEO of their portfolio division, leading a portfolio of businesses across a range of sectors including insurance, legal, consulting and technology. Previously she spent 23 years at Willis Towers Watson, a global risk and people consulting and brokerage firm, where she held several senior roles in Asia and Europe.

Bruno Valersteinas has been formally appointed as Chief Executive Officer at OneLife per 1 August, replacing Antonio Corpas who passed away due to an accident in January.

OneLife said that Valersteinas’ appointment has been approved by the Commissariat aux Assurances, the supervisor for Luxembourg’s insurance sector. He formally takes on the role as CEO and dirigeant agréé, or authorised manager. 

Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL), a Chinese-owned systemic bank in Luxembourg, on Monday posted a robust financial performance for the first half, revealing a net profit of 103 million euro, up from 68 million in the same period a year earlier. The bank attributed  the surge to the current global financial environment characterized by central banks hiking interest rates to combat soaring inflation levels. Clients deposits have fallen 6.8% during the first half.

KPMG Luxembourg announced Wednesday an agreement with developer BPI Real Estate to develop a new headquarters building in Kirchberg for its audit, tax and advisory services activities.

The deal includes developing a new 31,000-square-meter headquarters on the 3.23-hectare site of the Kronos Building. It will incorporate a food court and a co-working space. BPI Real Estate will develop an additional 24,658 square meters for mixed-use purposes.

High yield bonds are positioning themselves cautiously in the spotlight as recession fears recede and credit quality improves. While junk bonds perform best during periods of robust economic growth, a region that’s closely flirting with a recession is seen as having the most potential.

Ansgar John Brenninkmeijer, the fifth-generation descendant of the Dutch C&A family, read a popular investment book, founded a fund without any prior experience, had it blessed by a daytrading priest, and has been outperforming “virtually all indices” since.

The google search for Ansgar John Brenninkmeijer yields remarkable results. At a young age, he received treatment in a psychiatric institution. He was arrested twice for resisting COVID-19 measures, and he spent a short time in a police cell.

Asset owners are going back to basics en masse. Institutional investors are writing large new mandates for global and developed-market equities, wrote bfinance in a quarterly report published this month. The agency, which advises more than 500 pension funds and other institutional investors worldwide, is also seeing increased interest in investment-grade strategies.

Switzerland-based investment house Lombard Odier has reported a 4% increase in assets under management since the end of December 2022, reaching 198 billion Swiss francs of assets at the end of June 2023. The result is due in part to “solid contributions” due to new net inflows in its private clientèle and asset management units, the firm stated.

At the same time, the firm says it is pursuing strategic investments in its operations. At the end of June 2023, the total assets of the Group’s clients reached 308 billion Swiss francs.

Cork Gully, a restructuring firm based in London, has announced the opening of an office in Luxembourg. The new location aims to expand its services in advising and managing challenged and tail-end investment funds, working as either sub-advisors or replacement fund managers. The firm cited increased interest in its services.