Supervision

Investment firms are struggling with AML/KYC requirements, with one fund manager saying his AML/KYC team can’t grow fast enough. The push towards ‘retailisation’ of private markets is only going to increase the stress.

Luxembourg’s financial watchdog CSSF has disclosed that about 86,000 investor accounts, primarily belonging to everyday retail investors across Europe, are currently frozen in the Grand Duchy.

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF on Wednesday announced 1 April as the deadline for its 2023 annual financial crime survey, an effort in which it collects data concerning money laundering and terrorism financing. Data collection will begin on 19 February, it said.

The UK’s financial supervisor still sees shortcomings in the asset management industry in regards to sustainable investment funds ahead of its publication of more stringent anti-greenwashing rules.  

Adler Group SA,  a Luxembourg-based real estate company active in Germany with a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, has been fined 30,000 euro by Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF because it has not deposited an audited annual financial report for 2022.

Adler, as a Luxembourg firm, is subject to the country’s transparency law, CSSF said in a statement issued on Monday. Adler did not respond to a request for comment.

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF has stopped using X, formerly known as Twitter, as one of its communications channels on social media, referring to the increasing circulation of false information on the platform.

European regulators, especially those in Paris and Luxembourg, are at odds over the regulatory and technical standards for the updated European Long Term Investment Funds scheme, known as Eltif 2.0, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The Luxembourg bar association ia applying a form of shock therapy to lawyers taking a laissez-faire view of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws, but its disciplinary body has nevertheless found a loophole allowing it to continue this country’s tradition of not publicly identifying the guilty.

The European Securities and Markets Authority, or Esma, on Thursday announced that from 2025, cyber risk and digital resilience in Europe’s securities sector will take precedence alongside ESG reporting in terms of overarching priorities for the supervisors in EU member states.

Luxembourg, a hub for global finance, has seen a significant uptick in alerts on questionable transactions that could signal money laundering or even finance terrorism.