Opinion

Sparked by a thought-provoking piece from Gregory Kennedy, the debate about Luxembourg as an international fund domicile has been engaging professionals across the industry. We’re thrilled to have Claire Guilbert, a renowned fund law expert and partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, join the conversation, marking the firm’s debut as a Knowledge Partner with Investment Officer Luxembourg.

France reported a few weeks ago that its already exorbitant budget deficit of 4.9 per cent of French GDP would be breached. And that was no lie. According to statistics agency Insee, the budget for 2023 will go into the minus by a whopping 5.5 per cent. And with that, the chances of France becoming a second Italy are rapidly increasing.

Every now and then, my development team informs me that they need to take a pause from future developments to refactor code. Refactoring is a process where they restructure existing computer code without altering its external behavior.

Over time, small incremental changes to the software’s code base degrade maintainability, readability, and performance. The purpose of refactoring is to enhance code performance without affecting existing functionality, as a clean code base facilitates the addition of new features.

As the last vestiges of winter’s chill give way to the vibrant blooms of spring, the financial community turns its gaze to Frankfurt for the annual “ECB and Its Watchers” conference.

The 2024 edition unfolded under the brilliant skies of Europe’s financial nexus, courtesy of Volker Wieland and the Institute for Monetary and Financial Policy. This year marked the 24th instance of Wieland orchestrating this esteemed gathering, which has become a cornerstone event for Europe’s monetary policymakers.

Over the past year, Nvidia’s stock has soared by more than 200%, igniting talks of a “bubble” among the self-proclaimed financial seers. But what precisely do we mean by a “bubble”? This term, often thrown around loosely, lacks a consistent definition among its most vocal proponents.

In a world inundated with political polarisation and partisan scepticism, it’s easy to get lost in the noise surrounding climate change, green-washing, over-regulation and what some may dismiss as mere ‘wokeness.’ Yet, amidst this tumultuous backdrop, a quiet revolution has been taking place within the investment industry. 

Over the past decade, responsible investment funds have emerged as a steady force, defying all the sceptics, and maintaining market share while experiencing a surge in assets. 

On 19 January 2024, the Council of the European Union published the final compromise containing amendments to Directive 2009/138/EC (Solvency II). The text contains details of the modified “Long-term equity investments” (LTE) sub-model (with a favourable 22% capital charge) and a specific treatment for Eltifs and other “low risk” AIFs. This contribution sheds some light on the implications of these amendments for insurers in the fund context.

As European skies darken with the storm clouds of geopolitical tensions, particularly the shadow cast by Russia’s war against Ukraine, a stark dilemma has emerged on the horizon for the continent’s asset managers. This quandary, deeply rooted in the ethos of sustainable investment principles, challenges the very fabric of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) advocacy. The question that now looms large is whether investments in the defence industry can be harmonised with the steadfast commitment to sustainability.

Comparatively minimal macroeconomic news of substance emerges from China; however, the information that does reach me through Bloomberg and other outlets offers little cause for optimism. To illustrate the initial point: a decade ago, China’s National Bureau of Statistics released over 80,000 economic indicators; presently, this figure has dwindled to fewer than 10,000.

Chinese stocks are the opposite of US Big Tech stocks in almost every way. They are cheap, but nevertheless unloved.

Those looking to invest in emerging markets can even choose a variant of emerging markets ex-China these days. Consequently, global equity portfolios hardly contain any Chinese stocks anymore. This means that just a little bit of good news can cause a sharp price recovery. The time has come to include more Chinese equities in portfolios.