Asset Manager

A new year, a new round. Every year at the beginning of January, I once again look with amazement and confusion at the equity market outlooks from the major financial institutions. And especially at the projected returns, which are invariably clustered right around the long-term average. Because one thing you can be almost certain of is that those projections will not materialize.

U.S. large-cap stocks are extending their rally into the new year, but a growing number of asset managers are entering 2026 with a more cautious view on expensive artificial intelligence bets. Many start to see better opportunities in value stocks.

While the average fund in the Global Large-Cap Blend Equity Morningstar category eked out a 5.8 percent gain in 2025, it was hardly an easy year for investors. Tariff turmoil, geopolitical tensions, and demanding valuations weighed on sentiment.

European asset managers are increasingly looking at semi-transparent ETFs to reduce the risk of intellectual property leakage. However, the relatively new vehicle has yet to generate unanimous enthusiasm.

After studying politics, Jean-Paul Daragjati set his sights on finance through a hands-on master’s in wealth management at the University of Luxembourg. Now a private banker at Edmond de Rothschild, he says the secret to success is to never stop learning.

This week’s international overview of appointments and transfers in the industry.

With the start of a new year, the professionals making the wheels of Luxembourg’s funds sector spin may be considering changing jobs. Recruitment experts share their perspectives on the state of the industry and the trends shaping it.

EEOC interim chair Andrea Lucas has urged white men who feel discriminated against at work to file a federal complaint. “Are you a white man who has been disadvantaged at work because of your race or gender? Then you may be able to get money back,” Lucas said in a video on X. Act quickly, is the message.

The failed partnership between Italy’s Generali and France’s BPCE is more than a collapsed deal in European asset management. It exposes how challenging it remains for Europe to build financial scale once a project becomes truly cross-border, and how protectionist reflexes, legal uncertainty and unfinished integration can combine to smother a transaction.

What began as a tool for measuring risks evolved into a normative framework, only to return under political pressure to its core: the G. After 25 years, ESG has come of age, but not without scars.