CSSF

The number of complaints received about financial services in Luxembourg last year rose by 25 percent, with clients in Germany and the U.K. accounting for almost half of them, according to the latest CSSF annual report.

One month after the EU ordered the investment sector to ask clients for their sustainability preferences, investment firms appear to show limited enthusiasm for complying with the new requirements as complexity around the EU’s ESG rules persists and greenwashing fears linger.

Financial supervisor CSSF has imposed two fines totalling 1.015 million euro on Fuchs & Associates after an on-site inspection found that the Luxembourg management company did not comply with laws for internal controls and EU requirements under the Mifid rules.

From 2 August 2022, a European Commission regulation comes into force (Commission Delegated Regulation 2021/1253 of 12 April 2021) as part of MiFiD II that requires providers of investment advisory and discretionary portfolio management services to collect specific information on their clients sustainability preferences. 

The providers are also required to “meet such preferences”, while at the same time meeting their investment objectives and taking into account their financial situation and experience.

Private consumers seeking to invest in virtual assets through investment funds, despite the massive losses incurred by investors in certain cryptocurrencies, should be aware they are doing so without the protection of financial regulatory oversight, Luxembourg financial regulator the CSSF said.

The CSSF document was titled “Notice to private consumers in the context of investment funds providing exposure to virtual assets”. 

Luxembourg’s banking association ABBL is encouraging its members to overcome their reluctance and embrace the cloud computing revolution in order to remain “agile and innovative”, especially now that the CSSF has improved its regulatory framework for cloud banking.  A recent ABBL-KPMG survey shows that banks in the Grand Duchy are slow to take up cloud services.

Rising interest rates and growing balance sheets have led to a rise of 20.1 percent in interest income for Luxembourg’s banks in the first quarter, according to data released by financial supervisor CSSF. The improvements however were not enough to counter a decline in non-recurring revenues, which meant overall bank sector profits fell 2.4 percent.

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF on Monday ordered alternative investment managers to exclusively use a new ePassporting module in its eDesk electronic reporting portal to share notifications for the marketing of investment products registered in the Grand Duchy.

New rules, new details and a new terminology regarding financial sector outsourcing are being introduced by Luxembourg’s financial regulator CSSF with the presentation of its widely discussed ‘circular 22/806’. These changes, with significant consequences for the use of IT and cloud services, bring greater clarity within the  regulatory framework.

European financial market regulator Esma has reminded fund managers of their fiduciary duties to correctly account for the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on investment funds.