Supervision

Luxembourg’s Financial Intelligence Unit is key to fulfilling Luxembourg’s international anti-money laundering/terrorist financing prevention obligations, reducing the perception that this country’s financial sector is somehow “above the rules”. Investment Officer recently had an opportunity to speak with FIU director Max Braun.

The European Securities and Markets Authority, Esma, on Thursday issued a warning about practices surrounding Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs) in the EU. The supervisory body has found potential conflicts of interest and undue influence in the CLO rating process during the 2017-2021 period.

The Big Three credit rating agencies - Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and S&P - are at the centre of this review.

The Bank of England (BoE) has issued a warning about the risks posed by private credit and leveraged loans to financial stability in an environment of higher interest rates. Private debt, a market where Luxembourg structures play a major international role, looks ‘particularly vulnerable’.

The fact that financial institutions in Luxembourg have frozen some 86.000 investor accounts should not be regarded as a material issue because the Financial Action Task Force has not issued a recommendation on this topic, a senior official at the Grand Duchy’s financial supervisory body CSSF has said.

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.