Raymond Frenken

Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands have all put forward candidates to succeed Klaus Regling as the head of the European Stability Mechanism, the 500-billion-euro eurozone bailout fund known as ESM. On Monday, the Eurozone finance ministers are due to decide on a successor for Regling, who steps down after a ten-year tenure and leaves behind a legacy at the Luxembourg-based ESM.

Europe’s asset management industry on Wednesday threw its backing behind a legislative proposal to give asset managers a bigger say in the application of liquidity management tools, or LMTs, at times of market stress. The managers, not the supervisors, should be responsible for deciding on the use of such tools,  the proposal says.

Apex Group Ltd continues to add management companies to its group through acquisitions. On Wednesday it said it plans to acquire the fund services and third-party management company business operations of Maitland International Holdings plc, an international fund services provider with a presence in Luxembourg, for an undisclosed amount. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

A university-sponsored wealthtech startup based in Liège, Belgium, is keen to make life easier for European fund managers that currently face sleepless nights. In 77 days, in the middle of the summer holidays, additional client suitability requirements will enter into force in the EU. It can change the way wealth managers interact with their clients.

Waving goodbye to what it calls “disflationary dynamics,” the European Central Bank on Wednesday sent clear signals that Eurozone interest rates will continue to rise for the foreseeable future after a first hike that could come as early as July. 

Luxembourg loves the new new thing, especially when it comes to financial legislation. The big question is: what should be next? The Grand Duchy may have found the answer already.

In the late 1980s, the Grand Duchy successfully tapped into global investment fund markets by becoming the first EU member state to offer Ucits-passports to international investment funds. Today, three decades later, more than a quarter of Europe’s fund assets has its home here. The country has even become a leading global funds hub.

Frankfurt-based Renell Bank AG, which publicly announced the acquisition of Belgium’s Merit Capital last October, remained silent on Monday on the demise of the Antwerp-based brokerage firm whose trading licence is being revoked.

Marc Renell, CEO of the German private bank, told Investment Officer that he is unable to comment. “I cannot speak about this topic. Go ask Merit in Antwerp,” he said when answering the bank’s general number listed on its website, before hanging up the phone.

The European Union needs to establish a single supervisory body for financial markets in order to boost the development of market finance towards creating a true single European financial market and turning the widely-discussed Capital Markets Union plans into reality. “We should not hide away from some unpleasant truths,” said Yves Mersch, former ECB board member. 

Two of Luxembourg’s top financial bodies are undergoing changes in key leadership positions. Former Fortuna Bank CEO Jerry Grbric this month took over from Yves Maas as chief executive officer of the Grand Duchy’s banking association ABBL, while Frank Wagener, long-time chair of the board of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, will retire in May.

Although growth in Luxembourg’s alternative investment funds market slowed in 2020, it remained significant, bringing the total of alternative assets managed in the Grand Duchy above the 1000-billion-euro mark for a first time, according to new data released by financial regulator CSSF.