Investment Officer

The US central bank on Wednesday evening announced t that it would raise the benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to cushion rising inflation. Earlier this week, the Fed already indicated to markets that it would do so. Economists and analysts last week were still expecting a 50 bp increase. The bigger-than-expected hike increases the chances of a recession in the United States.

Following an emergency meeting of its governing council, the European Central Bank on Wednesday said it will bring forward its plans to create a new instrument that will prevent fragmentation between the 19 economies in the eurozone.

Firms promoting Exchange Traded Funds in Europe have reported 2.5 billion euro in net inflows for last month, despite a persistently difficult market environment, market research firm Refinitiv Lipper said on Tuesday. The inflows remain “far below” the 12-month rolling average of 11.5 billion euro per month.

Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday rejected a proposal by the European Commission to treat nuclear energy and natural gas as sustainable economic activities. If the vote is confirmed by absolute majority in the July 7 plenary meeting, the Commission’s proposal to update the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities will be sent back to the drawing board.

The World Bank on Tuesday warned that the global economy is facing a 1970s-style stagflation with a protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation.

“For many countries, recession will be hard to avoid,” World Bank President David Malpass said at the presentation of the bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report, which noted an increased risk of stagflation ”with potentially harmful consequences for middle- and low-income economies alike”.

Luxembourg has frozen some 4.3 billion euro in Russian assets, mostly held in shares, bonds and bank accounts, as part of the international sanctions against Russia, the finance ministry said.

The Luxembourg Business Register, at the request of the finance ministry, so far has identified more than 90 persons and 1,100 legal entities registered in the Trade and Companies Register (RCS) for which there are details of persons included in the sanctions lists. 

Luxembourg’s SES SA, which likes to describe itself as the world’s only multi-orbit satellite player, has announced the successful launch of senior unsecured fixed rates due 2029 for a total amount of 750 billion euro.

The seven-year notes bear a coupon of 3.50 percent and were priced at 99.725 percent of their nominal value, representing a credit spread of 175 basis points and a yield-to-maturity of 3.55 percent.

Unregulated alternative investments continued to be dynamic and successful in Luxembourg last year thanks to the modernisation in recent years of the Grand Duchy’s regulatory regime for private markets, consultancy firm PWC Luxembourg noted when releasing the latest version of its Observatory for Management Companies.

European financial market regulator Esma has reminded fund managers of their fiduciary duties to correctly account for the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on investment funds.

Less than a day after the “green-washing raids” by German authorities on the Frankfurt offices of Deutsche Bank and its asset management arm DWS, the bank said Asoka Wöhrmann will resign as chief executive officer at DWS. Stefan Hoops, a long-time Deutsche executive, is named as his successor. 

Hoops has served as Deutsche’s head of corporate bank for the last three years. He has been with the bank since 2003.