Laws and Regulations

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the financial landscape with promises of efficiency, innovation, and superior decision-making capabilities. However, as the European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) warned this week, the integration of AI in investment services comes with significant risks. Like a double-edged sword, AI’s greatest strengths can become its most dangerous liabilities if not handled with care.

Banks and asset managers continue to make misleading sustainability claims, according to the European Securities and Markets Authority, Esma. Following an investigation into the compliance of marketing communications with MiFID II rules, Esma found that financial products and services are often presented as green without substantiating the sustainability claims.

ING Luxembourg has decided to eject thousands of mass retail clients in the grand duchy as part of a strategic transformation in which it plans to boost its focus on more profitable private banking services.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) unveiled a new initiative this week aimed at making investment opportunities more accessible across the EU. At the heart of this plan is a new “basic and simple” EU investment product label, intended to simplify and streamline choices for retail investors.

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.

Speaking at an ALFI event in New York, the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission, SEC, and Luxembourg financial supervisor CSSF have jointly voiced significant concerns about “increasingly complicated fee structures” in the fund industry, warning that these practices may be obscuring the true costs for investors. 

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, CSSF, and Alfi, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, will host a joint webinar on 6 June to discuss the new new rules for investment funds concerning errors in Net Asset Value (NAV) calculations, breaches of investment rules, and other related errors in investment funds. The CSSF announced the new rules in March as per CSSF Circular 24/856. 

A plan that could provide cross-border investors in the European Union with annual gains worth more than eight billion euro has moved a step closer to becoming reality in 2030.

Strengthening the capital market union is a priority in Brussels. Recently, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta published a report titled “Much More Than a Market.” Letta offered his insights to the European Council on how to proceed with the European capital market union.

In his report, Letta indicated that the mobilisation of private capital should be a priority for the capital market union. To this end, he calls for the creation of a Savings and Investments Union. Is this merely old wine in new bottles?

The UK’s new Overseas Fund Regime (OFR) plans to integrate strict sustainability reporting for foreign investment funds by 2025, enhancing market access while maintaining a competitive investment landscape post-Brexit.