Mike Gordon

BLI’s cio Guy Wagner unpacks Trump’s unpredictability, US market dominance, and shifting investment cycles—how geopolitics and demographics reshape global finance today.

With some exceptions, investors have tended to view art as a niche asset class—volatile, illiquid, and largely the domain of collectors rather than institutional portfolios. But what if the real opportunity lies not only in expensive paintings and sculptures but also in the broader creative economy?

The latest in a series of hefty fines levied by financial regulator the CSSF has fallen on a fund manager with strong links to the Fuchs & Associés saga, featuring millions in fines for financial malfeasance.

Luxembourg’s bold new tax incentives slash employment income taxation by 50 percent for newcomers as of this year. The new tax incentive aims to secure top global talent for its financial sector.

Demonstrating the impact of sustainable investment remains a significant challenge, according to participants involved in producing a joint report by the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative (LSFI) and PwC Luxembourg.

Luxembourg financial regulator the CSSF has started identifying pilot projects to explore artificial intelligence applications based on a new Luxembourg-based cloud computing platform incorporating Google services. The move is seen in part as a way to cope with a long-standing difficulty in recruiting sufficient qualified staff.

With the hype around artificial intelligence and despite its high-profile failures and misuses, it’s clear the global financial sector has plenty of interest in AI, especially in hopes of finding yet another way to outsource low-complexity work. Many large financial firms have set up special departments to explore and lead the introduction of the technology in its various product offerings.

Plans to increase Europe’s capital markets capacity hinge on giving retail investors access to private assets, but liquidity remains a sticking point. Evergreen funds, designed to offer investors some liquidity in otherwise illiquid assets, are being touted as a solution.

European asset-backed securities (ABS) are trading at historically attractive levels compared to similarly-rated corporate and government bonds, paradoxically because many see these instruments in connection with the 2008 financial crisis, explained Matthew Wardle, who makes the case for investment-grade structured credit in his role as M&G’s ABS portfolio manager.

Luxembourg’s financial regulator has issued a relatively small fine for a class of transgression with huge implications for the industry: valuations of funds, in particular for unlisted alternative investments.