CSSF

In a move to strengthen valuation practices across the investment fund industry, Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF on Wednesday unveiled a glimpse of plans to revise its valuation guidelines for investment fund managers. The update is due in 2025.

The latest CSSF data reveals a decline in new registrations of Luxembourg alternative investment funds since the first quarter of this year. However, reserved alternative investment funds continue to demonstrate resilience, driven by recent legislative updates and steady demand.

Asset managers are expressing concerns over the European Commission’s lack of a clear definition for “value for money,” arguing its subjective nature complicates the assessment of investment service costs amidst new regulatory pressures.

Crypto assets, as an asset class, have seen soaring valuations and scandals over the years. One Luxembourg AIFM thinks this country’s nascent crypto asset ecosystem is primed for growth from institutional investors when all the puzzle pieces finally fit together.

Some 40 new Eltif funds, enabling European retail investors to put their money in private markets, are understood to be in the pipeline, due to enter the market in the coming months.

Approvals of new European Long-Term Investment Funds in Luxembourg are proceeding smoothly, despite the relays with the adoption of regulatory standards for the second generation of these funds, the CSSF’s supervisor in charge of investment funds, Marco Zwick, told the Alfi conference on Tuesday.

Luxembourg’s CSSF financial regulator on 20 February announced that in late 2023, it had imposed a nearly half-million euro administrative fine on Mizuho Trust & Banking (Luxembourg) S.A.

The 17 November 2023 fine of 444,400 euros was imposed for non-compliance with professional obligations under Luxembourg’s financial sector law relating to governance and IT organisation. 

Luxembourg investment firms will have to provide annual self-certifications on key aspects of central administration, internal governance and risk management, according to a new rule introduced by financial supervisor CSSF.

Luxembourg funds continued their recovery from a slight decline in October 2023 by amounting at year-end to 5.285 trillion euros, up 5.1% over the past year,

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF on Wednesday announced 1 April as the deadline for its 2023 annual financial crime survey, an effort in which it collects data concerning money laundering and terrorism financing. Data collection will begin on 19 February, it said.