Mike Gordon

Market expectations of central bank interest rate cuts in 2024 are reasonable, according to Gilles Moëc, the Axa group chief economist and Axa IM head of research, who presented Axa’s outlook for next year in Luxembourg this week. He painted a relatively rosy picture for the US and, to a lesser extent, stagnating Europe, pointing to evidence that inflation is finally under control and that political troubles are not yet certain.

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.

Raifs - Reserved Alternative Investment Funds - are becoming an increasingly popular way to structure Reifs - Real Estate Investment Funds - with Raifs constituting 31 percent of the funds recently surveyed. The growth comes at the expense of SIFs - Specialised Investment Funds - while the share of Sicavs remains stable.

The 17th edition of the real estate investment fund survey carried out by the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, Alfi, was released this week.

Registration levels of new Reserved Alternative Investment Funds have continued their recovery from the slowdowns in activity seen earlier this year. In October, a total of 35 new Raifs were created, according to Investment Officer’s analysis of the latest Raif registration date made available in mid-November by the Luxembourg Business Registers. 

Updated European rules for long-term investment funds known as Eltifs will enter into force on 10 January 2024, but managers looking to actually launch new Eltif 2.0 funds may have to wait until the end of February because European financial supervisors still have to agree on the technical standards for supervising these products.

The rapid adoption of technology in Luxembourg’s insurance industry is reshaping competitive dynamics, with non-users facing increasing disadvantages. Discussions at Thursday’s ACA Insurance Day 2023 highlighted the critical impact of technologies like cloud computing and artificial intelligence on the sector.

Luxembourg-based investment professionals seeking to launch their first or second impact investment fund are eligible for extensive government assistance, including training and financial support.

Luxembourg lawyer Gilles Roth has been waiting patiently to take up the position of finance minister since his party was pushed out of office in 2013.

Fund managers are beefing up their exchange-traded fund (ETF) ranges, to judge from a recent flurry of product launches. Luxembourg’s fund industry faces a dual threat: these ETFs launched in Ireland and are taking market share from traditional Ucits mutual funds, its core product.

Both Paris-based AXA Investment Management and Boston-based Fidelity Investments have recently launched products offering active management and research at a lower cost.

The Luxembourg bar association ia applying a form of shock therapy to lawyers taking a laissez-faire view of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws, but its disciplinary body has nevertheless found a loophole allowing it to continue this country’s tradition of not publicly identifying the guilty.