Alfi

Luxembourg’s real estate investment sector has recovered strongly from the economic slowdowns caused by the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, according to figures released in the Association of the Luxembourg Fund industry’s (ALFI)  15th annual Luxembourg real estate investment funds survey. (Full version link below.) 

BlackRock, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Pictet Asset Management and Robeco were announced as the major category winners of the 2021 Broadridge Distribution Achievement Awards, presented at the ALFI Global Distribution Conference held on 21 and 22 September, according to a Wednesday press release issued by ALFI, which represents the Luxembourg fund industry.

UBS Asset Managers and Candriam Investor Group were among the “Fastest Risers”.

Luxembourg’s fund industry association ALFI has announced the appointment of its executive committee. The appointment was made by ALFI’s board of directors and publicised in an 8 July 2021 press release.

The members of the committee are:

VAT rules are a mess in the EU financial services sector. The current regime dates from 1977, well before the development of the cross-border business we know today.

Despite much talk about the cost and efficiency benefits of digitalisation and clients moving very quickly to adopt it, some parts of the fund sector still rely on manual processing. Some in the sector are calling for regulators to play an increased role in setting standards.

A panel entitled “Trends in fund distribution as investors have become more digital than ever - Is the fund industry ready?” discussed the current situation as part of ALFI’s recent Digi Pulse Amsterdam virtual event.

Mobilising long term private sector funding for ambitions such as the green industrial revolution is the stuff of policy makers’ dreams. Retail investors too want options which will give solid long-term returns. The ELTIF was the EU’s effort to give retail investors access to alternative funds, but it has failed to take off. Institutions need to drive reform and uptake.

Assets under management of Luxembourg-domiciled private debt funds have risen by 36% to €108 billion in 2020, according to the KPMG/ALFI Private Debt Fund Survey 2020. Investment Officer discussed the dynamics behind the popularity of the asset class with KPMG’s Valeria Merkel and Julien Bieber.

A separate UK ESG investing taxonomy and a couple of foreign-fund access regimes that replicate EU rules are some of the ways the London government is considering using its post-Brexit powers. Meanwhile in Luxembourg, the CSSF is working to reduce complexity for market players regarding the implementation of EU sustainability rules.

The lack of available data on company-level will be the main challenge for asset managers to deal with after the regulation for sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector, better known as SFDR, comes into force in March next year, according to Alfi’s Nathalie Dogniez (picture).

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.