Asset Servicing

MFS CEO Mike Roberge and Luxembourg head Michael Derwael see actively managed funds - ETFs and mutual funds - as benefitting from a return to higher interest rates, which would take away market share from passive investments and private markets.

Dutch bank ABN Amro on Tuesday said it agreed to pay 672 million euro for German private bank Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe, also known as HAL, from debt-laden Chinese investment company Fosun International. HAL’s asset services activities in Luxembourg and Ireland are excluded from the transaction.

From Tuesday, US trades of stocks, bonds and ETFs will need to be settled within a single day, not two, presenting significant challenges to European funds dealing in US securities.

Luxembourg’s Management Companies, the firms that handle a substantial portion of investments serviced in the Grand Duchy, employed a record 7,700 people at the end of last year, up 11 percent from the previous year. This figure is reported in PwC’s 2024 Barometer for the ManCo sector.

Registrations of new Reserved Alternative Investment Funds (Raifs) in Luxembourg slowed in April, continuing a decline from last December’s peak, reflecting higher interest rates and a market shift towards sub-funds under existing structures.

FE fundinfo, a Luxembourg-based financial data company that connects the asset management industry to distribution networks across the UK, Europe, and Asia Pacific, has announced its acquisition of Dericon, a fintech firm based in Frankfurt. Financial details were not disclosed. 

Jersey-headquartered Aztec Group has announced the launch of its Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) service in Luxembourg. This new service offers a range of support functions required by alternative investment managers establishing and managing European alternative investment funds. The services include marketing, compliance, risk management, regulatory reporting, and portfolio management.

LGIM has launched its first Luxembourg-domiciled fund, aimed at international institutional investors, to expand its private markets strategy. It’s called ‘Staff’, or short term alternative finance fund. LGIM’s head of private credit Nick Bamber spoke to Investment Officer.

Less than a week before announcing the sale of its asset management services arm, Luxembourg’s troubled investment firm Fuchs & Associés Finance - still in liquidation - was fined €785,000 by the Grand Duchy’s financial supervisor CSSF under laws on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Apex Group on Wednesday claimed to have become the first fund administrator to utilise blockchain technology as a book of record. It will leverage blockchain technology to service the 3.7 billion euro Hamilton Lane Global Private Assets fund.