Investment Officer

Luxembourg-based Quintet Private Bank  has opened a branch in Zurich, Switzerland. The opening follows the acquisition of the local Bank am Bellevue, the asset management arm of Bellevue Group AG, and the approval of the transaction by the regulatory authorities.

US government debt is rising rapidly and the economy has come to a virtual standstill because of the coronavirus. However, treasury yields have never been this low. Yet, real alternatives to treasuries as a safe haven investment have yet to emerge, according to Quentin Fitzsimmons.

Chief economists are all waiting for the gradual lifting of lockdown measures. But otherwise, there’s little that unites them. Some are optimistic for the recovery to continue, while other believe markets are ahead of themselves.

The corona crisis is severely compromising the growth prospects of the world economy. ‘The stagnation of new infections in the main industrialised countries is good news, although concerns about certain emerging countries such as Russia, India and Brazil remain,’ says Keith Wade (pictured), chief economist at Schroders.

The Luxembourg fund industry has been set back three years by the coronavirus crisis. Assets held in funds domiciled in Luxembourg shrunk by a record €526 billion in March, according to figures provided to Investment Officer by Morningstar.

Companies with above average sustainability profile held up better during the first month of the corona crisis. The crisis thus confirms the importance of ESG integration not only from a climatic and social perspective, but also from a financial perspective.

A quarter of the 600 largest listed companies in Europe have already suspended or cancelled dividend payments for this year, according to a study by Germany’s DZ Bank. As a consequence, total dividend payouts are to fall by some €310 billion.

The bank’s analysts write that ‘an unprecedented cancellation of dividend payments is rolling over European stock markets’. They estimate 2019 payouts to fall by 23%, or €310 billion. 

A record of €246 billion flowed out of investment funds last month, surpassing redemptions seen even during the darkest months of the great financial crisis. Commodity funds were the only ones to weather the negative trend, thanks to high demand for gold.

Welcome to investmentofficer.lu, a brand new publication dedicated to Luxembourg’s fund industry. With the launch of investmentofficer.lu, our platform is now active in all three Benelux countries. 

We started in August 2008 in the Netherlands with fondsnieuws.nl, now the country’s biggest platform for investment professionals. We expanded to Belgium in 2018 with the bilingual platform investmentofficer.be, which up until now has registered users representing more than 500 companies.

Investment data and research provider Morningstar is acquiring full ownership of Sustainalytics, the ESG ratings agency. Morningstar already owned a 40%-stake in the company.

European regulators are trying to prevent a liquidity crisis caused by excessive outflows from investment funds in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The CSSF has joined other European regulators in asking asset managers for large amounts of information about their ability to repay investors.

French and German financial regulators are asking for daily updates on outflows from open-ended funds, while stock market watchdogs in Luxembourg and Ireland have also stepped up their oversight, the Financial Times reported on Monday.