Asset Owner

With the Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamerlid) passing the Actual Return Box 3 Act last week, the Netherlands will introduce “paper gains” as a basis for taxation starting in 2028. That is entirely unique in Europe. The patchwork of solutions Europe has devised for this tax will therefore gain a new addition.

Here in Milan, during the Olympic Games, only one thing matters: winning. In geopolitics, the battle for victory has now been pushed to an unprecedented level. But whether we in rustic Europe are truly aware of that, I wonder.

Schroders has agreed to a 9.9 billion pound (11.4 billion euro) takeover by US-based Nuveen, ending 222 years of family ownership and marking a further shift in global asset management toward American dominance.

The disruptive potential of AI has caused havoc among software companies in recent weeks.

Spreads on European government bonds are at their lowest level since 2008. The periphery is benefiting from structural growth and European subsidies, while core countries such as France and Germany are weakening. Investors are wondering how much of that convergence remains once the carry trade turns.

Robo advisory platforms have quietly moved from novelty to infrastructure. What began as simple ETF portfolios is evolving into something far more powerful: discreet, algorithm-driven portfolios built at the individual investor level, often embedded inside universal banks that already control distribution, data, and trust.

Our weekly update of appointments and promotions in European asset and wealth management and in Luxembourg finance.

Esma and the European Commission have clarified how Eltif managers must apply the “look-through” principle when investing via intermediary vehicles, settling cross-border divergences and endorsing Luxembourg’s supervisory approach. The clarification provides significant comfort to Eltif managers active in private equity, infrastructure, real assets, and private credit, where multi-layered holding structures and aggregator vehicles are common, according to Sebastiaan Hooghiemstra and Gabriël Storm of Loyens & Loeff.

Belgium was long known as a late adopter of ETFs. But over the past three years, adoption has clearly accelerated, at 13 percent per year. This has brought the market closer to the European average.

EU financial regulation in 2026 will mean tougher scrutiny from supervisors and fewer new rules. With major frameworks on fund regulation, anti-money laundering, sustainability and market structure largely in place, the focus is shifting from lawmaking to enforcement. Across liquidity management, delegation and distribution, AML oversight and transparency requirements, experts see firms entering a year shaped by supervisory interpretation and uneven application.