CSSF

The CSSF is urging all financial sector workers to again work from home wherever possible. The new guidance comes after the Luxembourg government announced new restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19 on Friday.

‘We are facing an unprecedented upsurge in coronavirus infections whose consequences cannot be measured at this stage’, the CSSF said in a press release. ‘The government indicated that the situation gives cause for concern during its press conference.’

Après le redémarrage de l’activité, les sociétés financières luxembourgeoises ont globalement gardé les pratiques qu’elles avaient instaurées durant le confinement. Si celles-ci sont désormais bien ancrées dans les esprits et dans les organisations, des questions fiscales et réglementaires pourraient en réduire la portée… une fois la pandémie éradiquée.

Assets in Luxembourg-domiciled UCIs reached their highest level since January, according to figures published by the CSSF. Total assets rose by 1.72% to reach €4.7 trillion at the end of August.

This means assets in Luxembourg-domiciled funds have risen by €547 billion, or roughly 13%, since the end of March when they hit a multi-year low. Assets of US and global equity funds rose most in August, while assets in all bond funds except high-yield bond funds declined.

With a warning against excessive regulation, and a call to action on green investing, CSSF director-general Claude Marx, made a typically colourful intervention at Monday’s virtual ALFI conference. He also gave some details of planned local regulation of teleworking arrangements.

Could the coronavirus crisis prove to be a blessing in disguise for the financial industry in Luxembourg? It seems to have accelerated the adoption of new technologies in a sector that is traditionally somewhat resistant to innovation, and offers fresh opportunities to cut costs.

The CSSF has suspended David Mapley from his duties as the director of the Luxembourg-domiciled LFP 1 Equity Power Fund. The regulator claims Mapley, a vocal critic of the CSSF, had provided ‘incomplete and incorrect information’ on his application to be the fund’s director.

Total assets invested in Luxembourg-domiciled investment funds rose by 6.11% in April, taking the amount of assets invested back to €4.4 trillion. This is roughly the same level as a year earlier.

Liquidity in Luxembourg’s funds is a key concern for the CSSF, Luxembourg’s financial regulator. With all asset class crashing over the last month, investors have had no easy safe-haven options, and many have sought to sell up and hold cash. However, to date, this stress appears not to have led to the suspension of any Lux fund.

The CSSF has launched a new website. The site is supposed to offer ‘a more intuitive and personalised navigation and a number of enhanced features’, according to Luxembourg’s financial regulator. However, the new website has been displaying technical difficulties since its launch on Monday.

The new website is supposed to offer:

The CSSF is facilitating the defrauding of investors by failing to timely enforce regulation on funds, says David Mapley, director of the LFP 1 Equity Power Fund.