Investment Officer

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s recent announcement that U.S. interest rates will hold steady at 5.25% to 5.5% has sparked a debate among investment professionals about what would be best for asset owners: a “soft landing” or a full-blown recession?

FE fundinfo, a Luxembourg-based specialist in fund information, has announced the acquisition of Paris-based firm Adjuto. The move aims to bolster its fee and distribution channel management solutions. Financial details were not disclosed.

Monex Europe S.A., a commercial foreign exchange specialist, has relocated to a larger office in downtown Luxembourg to accommodate its growth and future expansion plans and ambitions to expand its services in private equity and investment funds.

The 29th edition of the Monterey Insight Luxembourg Fund Report reveals that unregulated funds are outperforming their regulated counterparts in a big way, signalling a potential paradigm shift for the Grand Duchy. Unregulated funds, especially reserved alternative investment funds (Raifs), have seen a surge in asset value. Raifs alone have increased their assets to the equivalent of 458.4 billion dollars, marking a 38.6% rise from last year’s 330.8 billion dollars, said Monterey.

As Puilaetco, a subsidiary of Luxembourg-headquartered Quintet, nears the final stages of a high-profile partnership with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, the Belgian private bank is setting ambitious, forward-looking objectives. The collaboration aims to tap into next-generation wealth management, with new services expected to roll out in Q1 2024.

Performance of Bridgewater Associates’ flagship Pure Alpha Fund falls short, raising speculation that the hedge fund’s founder, Ray Dalio, may come out of retirement to regain control, much to the dismay of the new CEO.

Although Dalio retired in 2022, he retained the contractual right to take back control of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, if its performance lags.

Hamburg-based private bank M. M. Warburg & Co has announced the launch of its first real estate debt fund, WB Urban Real Estate Finance I, a Luxembourg-registered reserved alternative investment fund, or Raif, for institutional investors. The fund targets raising some 300 million euro, with initial seed financing of 86 million.

“We are a recognizable and accessible face for our clients. We are not product pushers but focus on concrete goals,” said Stefaan Vanden Berghe, CEO of Truncus. 

For several years, Truncus has been featured on Chambers & Partners’ list of top wealth managers, a prestigious ranking annually compiled based on the opinions of lawyers and tax consultants. Truncus is the only Belgian firm in this category.

The European Commission is considering a revamp of the way sustainable investment products are classified and is about to launch a three-month consultation soon. The current system, governed by the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), categorizes these products under Article 8 and Article 9, but this could be subject to change.

In a significant blow to the push for gender equality within the asset management sector, Citywire’s Alpha Female Report for 2023 shows almost no progress in the representation of female fund managers over the past year.