Raymond Frenken

Rising interest rates and the demise of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse have led to a paradigm shift in private equity and venture capital. Reji Vettasseri, lead portfolio manager at Swiss private finance group Decalia, believes investors now need to to be innovative with emerging strategies, carefully selecting ‘small cap’ firms to invest in instead of fleeing to the safety of larger ventures.

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF this week presented its priorities in the area of sustainable finance. The regulator said it strives to “accompany the transition of the financial sector and its players in a proactive way”. It has defined separate priorities for banks, for asset managers and for investment firms.

Although there’s consensus on clouds hanging over private real estate markets while some investors here still face a rough ride, instability in the market for Real Estate Investment Funds, known as REIFs, - unlike the European Central Bank - is not seen as an immediate systemic threat to the real economy, according to real estate specialists in Luxembourg and London.

Downgraded green credentials for hundreds of investment funds and an increasingly polarised political US debate on ESG investments are shaping the current industry debate on sustainable finance. Joachim Nahem, sustainability expert and chief executive at Oslo-based Position Green, notes the emergence of a new concept that has taken over from greenwashing: green hushing. 

The global market for Exchange Traded Funds, better known as ETFs, is projected to more than triple in the next ten years to reach 30 trillion dollars, says Brown Brothers Harriman in a new study it releases today. Developments in this market are closely watched in Luxembourg, Europe’s second-biggest hub for ETFs. ETFs are increasingly finding their way into institutional portfolios, concludes BBH in its annual survey of 325 institutional investors, financial advisors and fund managers from the US, Europe and China.

European private equity investors have become more cautious during recent weeks following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse. Appetite for alternative investments however remains strong while some investors embrace the ‘dislocation’ in the market as an opportunity. “If you’re selective, you can even do better than expected.”

Luxembourg-headquartered Quintet Private Bank on Thursday posted its first net profit in four years as interest margins improved thanks to rising interest rates. Higher trading income and a one-time gain from the sale of its stake in EFA also underpinned its performance last year.

Luxembourg’s top supervisor for investment funds on Wednesday assured the country’s fund management community, describing the sector as “very robust” and speaking about “quite normal” levels of volatility, even though it is not fully immune to the liquidity issues that have rocked global financial markets in recent weeks.

Alfi’s European asset management conference on Tuesday caught up on the global debate about corporate taxation, something that will also affect large Luxembourg investment funds. At the heart of the complex discussion: BEPS Pillar Two and Transfer Pricing. 

“Some see it like building a plane while flying,” said Keith O’Donnell, managing partner at Atoz Tax Advisors. “Really big challenge. No tax authority has issued forms yet to allow firms to comply. It is very much a work in progress.”

The head of the European Securities and Markets Authority, which oversees and coordinates the work of European supervisors in asset management, on Tuesday called on the industry to pay more attention to the management of increasing interest rate risks and to step up its efforts in terms of “prudent management” of the investment funds.