Asset Servicing

This Luxembourg edition of IO Talks hears about the ambitions of Waystone Management Company’s newly appointed Luxembourg CEO Denis Harty. 

Financial supervisor CSSF on Thursday said it has imposed a fine of 178,600 euro on European Depository Bank SA, a unit of Apex Group.

A 2021 on-site inspection by the CSSF looked into the firm’s IT risks and found “infringements” relating to internal governance and IT organisation, IT outsourcing and IT risk management, the supervisor said. 

Luxembourg-based European Depositary Bank, provider of banking, depositary and custody solutions, has named two women to senior leadership: Cecilia Gejke is now managing director and member of the executive management board and Gilda B. Neiman (photo) is now a member of the board of directors.

This Luxembourg edition of IO Talks hears about the latest developments in the realm of legislation around alternative investment solutions, and in particular European Long Term Investment Funds, or ELTIFs, and what they mean for Luxembourg. 

This Luxembourg edition of IO Talks is about developments in the realm of management companies, popularly referred to as “ManCos”, in Luxembourg. Mancos are an key component of the asset services ecosystem in the grand duchy.

At this week’s Alfi European Asset Management Conference in Luxembourg, Emmanuel Gutton, Alfi’s director of legal and tax, spoke to Investment Officer’s Raymond Frenken for this edition of IO Talks Luxembourg. The topic: European Long Term Investment Funds, a new type of investment fund known as Eltifs that opens the door to private equity and alternatives to a wider group of investors, in particular wealth management clients and the “retail plus” segment. Luxembourg is keen to become a European ánd global hub for these funds.

Crestbridge, a fund services provider for private equity and real estate funds, has been granted its depositary licence by Luxembourg’s financial services regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, CSSF.

The firm has already been licenced by the UK’s FCA to provide depositary service in the UK since 2001. Its Luxembourg licence enables it to further expand its capabilities in supporting a growing number of fund managers in Europe.

The European Union on Monday published the text of its updated regulation on long-term private investment funds, known as Eltif 2.0, in its Official Journal, clearing the final hurdle before its implementation from January next year.

The publication was expected following the adoption by the European Parliament in February. Luxembourg, as a leading investment funds hub in Europe, is keen to develop itself as an international hub for this new type of investment funds which will open up alternatives and private equity also to non-institutional investors.

As the European Union considers banning inducements (aka kickbacks) for investment advice as part of its forthcoming retail investment strategy, those who support inducements, like Luxembourg’s ALFI and the worldwide CFA Institute, but also strong critics of inducements, such as the EU’s commissioner for financial services Mairead McGuinness and EU investor and financial service users organisation Better Finance are making their widely divergent views known.