Raymond Frenken

In the face of market volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, a combination popularly referred to as ‘VUCA’, Ingo Mainert, CIO Multi Asset Europe at Allianz Global Investors, urges investors to embrace a fresh interpretation of VUCA: vision, understanding, clarity, and agility. 

This perspective came during his keynote speech at Wednesday’s ALFI Roadshow in Frankfurt, a gathering organised by Luxembourg’s 1700-member fund management trade association. The event provided a platform for industry experts to exchange insights on the investment climate and topics pertinent to Luxembourg, attracting roughly 300 delegates.

Luxembourg’s parliament needs to make sure that its proposed update for the Grand Duchy’s law on investment funds will provide more clarity on how fund redemptions, and in particular suspensions, are to be treated by its national regulator CSSF, the country’s top advisory body has said.

Fewer new reserved alternative investment funds are being registered in Luxembourg this year as investment managers are more cautious and VC fundraising has declined. Investor appetite appears reduced but has not disappeared. Dry powder is said to remain available among institutional investors in the alternatives market. 

In Europe’s two largest ETF hubs, Luxembourg and Ireland, different rules govern the naming of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). While European rules for ETF naming conventions are determined by Paris-based authority ESMA, the implementation by national supervisors CSSF in Luxembourg and CBI in Ireland diverges, presenting both opportunities and risks for ETF providers.

Crédit Agricole, ABN Amro, and “one or two Swiss private banks” have been named as finalists in the bidding process for the acquisition of Belgian wealth management and investment bank group Degroof Petercam, French business daily Les Echos reported on Friday, citing multiple sources.

The artificial intelligence revolution is in full swing, and Nvidia’s recent financial performance is a testament to this transformative era. For investors as well as businesses and policymakers, the dawn of generative AI has opened the doors to a new era.

In a significant market trend, European fund investors are increasingly redirecting their investments towards larger, passively managed mutual funds and ETFs, at the expense of actively managed smaller ones. This strategic shift has ignited a sustained downward pressure on costs across various fund types and strategies, according to the latest insights unveiled on Monday by the prominent European fund sector group Efama.

As global financial hub known for its robust banking and investment industry, Luxembourg is awaiting an upcoming discussion at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on its anti-money laundering (AML) measures. The FATF, the international body responsible for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, will discuss the findings of its latest mutual evaluation assessment of the grand duchy next week in Paris.

It is not easy for Luxembourg, home to 5,139 billion euro in international fund assets at the end of April, to maintain its international leadership as cross-border funds centre.

Competition between Luxembourg and Ireland, Europe’s other international funds hub, is a topic that re-emerged on two separate axes this week in our coverage at Investment Officer.lu.

The negative correlation between bonds and stocks is no longer a certainty due to structurally higher inflation expected in the coming decade.