Luxembourg

It may be only 8 years away, but many representatives of Luxembourg’s financial centre have clear visions of a 2030 of higher technology but also a commitment to ESG values, but which may be a challenge to bring about.

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.) 

Luxembourg is by far the leading EU domicile for environmental funds, according to a new report by PwC. Assets under management in green funds in the Grand Duchy are greater than the combined totals of the next three largest domiciles for these products. This article explains why this might be so.

“Why Luxembourg is still a tax haven” was the headline in Monday’s Luxemburger Wort, the country’s leading daily. The evidence for this statement was a report from the EU Tax Observatory think tank which identified the Grand Duchy and 16 other jurisdictions as helping multinational banks dodge taxes.

Luxembourg slipped two places in an international ranking of the quality and depth of green finance offerings in financial centres. Luxembourg ranked in 6th place, putting it in the top 15 green finance centres. The Grand Duchy is second in the EU in the ranking, behind Amsterdam, which came out ahead of Zurich, London, Oslo and San Francisco.

In the previous edition of the assessment, Luxembourg had ranked 4th.

7th edition

The price of an average house in Luxembourg has now risen well above €1m, making the Grand Duchy Europe’s second-most expensive housing market after Monaco. The regulators have just announced plans to impose tough minimum deposit requirements on new housing loans. Are these signs of speculative exuberance and is there a risk to the banking sector? Should investors be worried?

T. Rowe Price has won the Morningstar Luxembourg Fund Award for best fund house, the data provider announced on Thursday during a ceremony at the Centre Culturel ‘Schéiss’ in Luxembourg. T. Rowe Price also won the award for best fixed income fund house. Neuberger Berman, another US asset manager, received the honours for best equity fund house.