Asset Owner

There was a time when software companies could rely on growth rates and compelling narratives about scalable business models. Revenue was paramount, profit an afterthought. A decade ago, investors routinely paid six to ten times annual recurring revenue for SaaS businesses, and that felt entirely reasonable. Anyone who raised concerns about cash flow was dismissed as an old-fashioned investor who did not understand the future. That era has ended.

Markets are pricing a world that may no longer exist. Democratic institutions, designed for slower cycles and contained economies, are struggling to govern the complexity they now face. That failure, argues economist Jeannette von Wolfersdorff, is already shaping the conditions under which capital is allocated and regulated.

For over ten years, I’ve been writing articles for investors, economists, and anyone with even the slightest interest in the financial markets. Extremely negative stories, stories about the issues of the day, or stories with sensational headlines tend to do particularly well. Although I’m occasionally lumped into the first category, I’m usually not very good at writing those kinds of stories. But today I have a topic that tops the charts every day: Artificial Intelligence.

In the first quarter of 2026, hard-currency emerging-markets sovereign debt held up modestly better for European investors than for US investors. Euro-based returns were broadly flat, compared with a decline of around 0.2% for US dollar-based investors.

Software stocks are being repriced as investors reassess how artificial intelligence will reshape the industry. Some fund managers now argue the selloff has gone too far, even as uncertainty around long-term earnings remains unresolved.

Fund administrator Trustmoore has acquired the fundtech platform Assetcare, the company—primarily active in the Netherlands and Luxembourg—announced on Wednesday. Amsterdam-based Assetcare will continue to operate under its own name.

A dozen major European banks have joined forces to offer a euro stablecoin to clients by the end of this year. “We have a better chance of creating a broadly supported stablecoin than fintechs,” said Floris Lugt, CFO of Qivalis, the joint venture that will issue the crypto payment instrument.

While the whole world was watching the Serena Hotel in Islamabad, where the ceasefire negotiations on Iran were taking place, the real news last week unfolded 6,000 kilometers away.

The conflict in the Middle East hit financial markets less hard than expected. Rabobank strategist Mary Pieterse-Bloem sees in that not just relief, but a risk.

The new chief executive of Europe’s quietly ambitious private bank starts work this week. His profile suggests a fixer. The question is what he intends to fix.