Asset Manager

At ALFI’s private assets conference in Kirchberg, policymakers and asset managers championed private markets as vital for Europe’s growth and as a bridge for retail investors through ELTIFs. Yet speakers also warned that education gaps, transparency issues, and regulatory hurdles could constrain the sector’s ambitions.

October has a bad reputation in the markets. The biggest crashes in history – 1929, 1987, and 2008 – all took place in October. This pattern does not appear to be a coincidence but rather the result of structural factors that make this month particularly volatile.

The tenth edition of Citywire’s Alpha Female report, published in September 2025, highlights a paradox. Over the past decade, assets managed by female fund managers have nearly tripled, rising from 1.7 trillion euro in 2016 to 4.7 trillion euro today. Yet the share of women in the profession has barely advanced: 10.3 percent in 2016 versus just 12.9 percent this year.

Once seen as compliance or ideology, ESG is becoming part of ordinary risk management. Interviews with asset owners, managers and analysts in Amsterdam, the UK and the Netherlands show how sustainability is increasingly embedded in long term investment strategies.

Stocks are extremely expensive, so it’s just a matter of time before the markets collapse. The next mega market crisis already has a name: the bursting of the AI bubble.

Amundi and BNP Paribas pursue scale and expertise through mergers, but integration challenges create uncertainty over long-term benefits for investors.

It is March 2020 and Italy is in serious trouble. Italian long-term interest rates are rising rapidly, and the spreads with other eurozone countries are widening.

The United Kingdom’s new ESG fund labels have struggled to gain traction. As Brussels prepares an overhaul of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), a senior Morningstar expert warns Europe not to copy London’s model.

Government bonds from countries that score high on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have outperformed the global market-weighted bond index over the past three years.

This week’s overview of people transfers and appointments includes updates from Trustmoore, Quintet and Fundcraft.