Asset Manager

Esma and the European Commission have clarified how Eltif managers must apply the “look-through” principle when investing via intermediary vehicles, settling cross-border divergences and endorsing Luxembourg’s supervisory approach. The clarification provides significant comfort to Eltif managers active in private equity, infrastructure, real assets, and private credit, where multi-layered holding structures and aggregator vehicles are common, according to Sebastiaan Hooghiemstra and Gabriël Storm of Loyens & Loeff.

Belgium was long known as a late adopter of ETFs. But over the past three years, adoption has clearly accelerated, at 13 percent per year. This has brought the market closer to the European average.

EU financial regulation in 2026 will mean tougher scrutiny from supervisors and fewer new rules. With major frameworks on fund regulation, anti-money laundering, sustainability and market structure largely in place, the focus is shifting from lawmaking to enforcement. Across liquidity management, delegation and distribution, AML oversight and transparency requirements, experts see firms entering a year shaped by supervisory interpretation and uneven application.

America has the most crypto-friendly president ever. Donald Trump has created a bitcoin reserve for the government. He has released crypto criminals. Americans can now include crypto in their pensions. And he halted Biden’s strict crypto policy. If bitcoin cannot rise now, when can it?

ASML shares took a hit last week, after the company had risen in January to become Europe’s largest listed company. That has once again fuelled the question of whether the Dutch chip-equipment maker has become too big, too loved and too expensive. But how convincing are those doubts, really?

Sustainable funds recorded their first full year of net outflows in 2025, after investors withdrew 84 billion dollars from ESG strategies worldwide, according to Morningstar data. While the headline figure suggests a sharp break with previous years, Morningstar said it overstates the extent to which investors are abandoning sustainable investing.

In the new multipolar world order, globalization is a thing of the past. Yet Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, still advises investors to allocate capital across continents. She recently flew in from Singapore for a European roadshow with investors.

With a new Fed chair on the way, subject to approval by the U.S. Senate, it seemed like a good moment to take another look at “inflation.” And especially at inflation expectations, because they largely determine the behavior of consumers and investors alike. What I see is far from reassuring.

The appointment of Kevin Warsh as the new chair of the Federal Reserve was met with relief by markets worldwide. Gold crashed 9 percent, silver 28 percent. It was not only American investors who reacted. The whole world was watching. And that is exactly the point.

Valuation sits at the heart of Luxembourg’s private markets ecosystem, yet supervisors remain unconvinced that current practices are consistently robust. Speaking at an event organised by Kroll and the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, the CSSF flagged shortcomings in the review and approval of valuation models at investment fund managers, underlining that governance, documentation and independent challenge still require closer attention as private assets continue to scale.