Investment Officer

KPMG Luxembourg has named Annick Breton and Christian Guertler as partners in its asset management consulting business. They will work closely with Yves Courtois, Head of Advisory and the Advisory Partners group. Both Breton and Guertler have a strong track record in international asset management, KPMG has announced. 

2021 was one of the worst calendar years for emerging markets in the last decade, according to senior manager research analyst Ronald van Genderen of Morningstar, in his contribution for this week. Only 2013 saw a (narrowly) bigger loss. That year, the market was hit by concerns about the so-called “taper tantrum”. The situation today is similar, with increasing concerns about rising inflation that may trigger interest rate actions by Western central banks.

The interest in new funds and alternatives is obvious  from the enthusiasm for a new fund that invests in start-ups in artificial intelligence. 35 investors, including family offices and also the co-founders of BinckBank and Litebit, have together pledged millions to the Curiosity Venture Capital fund launched today.

On the last day of the year, the European Commission secretly circulated a plan to classify the fossil fuel natural gas and nuclear power as ‘sustainable’ investments. It seems the Commission will not publicly consult on this plan - the second chapter of the EU ‘taxonomy’ - while it did so three times for the first chapter, which dealt with renewable energy. 

Luxembourg has named Yuriko Backes as its new finance minister, replacing former finance minister Pierre Gramegna. She is the first woman to occupy the role.

Backes is formerly the Chief of the Grand Ducal Household. Prior to that, Backes served head of the European Commission’s representative office in Luxembourg, as well as being a diplomatic advisor (known as a “Sherpa”) to prime ministers Jean-Claude Juncker and Xavier Bettel.

Energy sector equities are having a good year. In recent years, however, investors in the sector have had a rough time of it. With the rise of sustainable investing and the greater awareness that the world needs to move away from fossil fuels to put an end to climate change, investments in companies that are active in the field of fossil fuels are under a magnifying glass.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin wants to vote against President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better programme. Since the Democrats only have a narrow majority in the Senate, a majority that they are going to lose at the end of this year, the generosity of the American government will be over.

According to the Republican senators and Manchin, it is no longer about saving the economy, but about fighting rising inflation.

Traditionally, the first outlooks for the coming year trickle in from September onwards. With sometimes a quarter of a year still to go, strategists start relating their vision of the economic and financial themes that await investors in the next calendar year. The big question is which investors have actually hit the mark in their outlook for 2021. The reckoning. 

It was the week of the central banks. The Bank of England raised interest rates by 15 basis points, the US Fed hinted at three rate hikes and a reduction in the buy-back programme. What exactly the ECB is aiming for is not entirely clear to market analysts. One thing is clear: a rate hike is the ultimum remedium for the central bank of President Christine Lagarde. 

Every year, thousands of new investment funds see the light of day. A catchy name, an attractive website and a slick factsheet tout a new, seemingly well-thought-out investment strategy that offers investors a unique opportunity to respond to current investment themes, making use of the proven expertise of fund houses. However promising new investment funds are presented, many do not survive the test of time.