Asset Servicing

Exceptional investment strategies are rare, as reflected in Morningstar’s qualitative fund ratings. Fewer than 6 percent of actively managed funds qualitatively assessed by Morningstar analysts in Europe achieve a High score on both the People and Process pillars, placing them in the highest conviction category.

Luxembourg’s private debt market has been flourishing. But products that can pose systemic risks, difficulties with valuation, and potential misunderstandings of the risks involved in the market are issues lurking in the shadows.

This week’s overview of people transfers and appointments includes updates from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management, KPMG and BDO Luxembourg, and Marktlink Capital.

Van Lanschot Kempen is preparing to enter the active ETF market through a new partnership with State Street Investment Management. The Amsterdam-based boutique, known for its smallcap and euro credit strategies, will rely on State Street’s infrastructure and distribution networks to launch its first exchange-traded funds within six to nine months.

At ALFI’s private assets conference in Kirchberg, policymakers and asset managers championed private markets as vital for Europe’s growth and as a bridge for retail investors through ELTIFs. Yet speakers also warned that education gaps, transparency issues, and regulatory hurdles could constrain the sector’s ambitions.

October has a bad reputation in the markets. The biggest crashes in history – 1929, 1987, and 2008 – all took place in October. This pattern does not appear to be a coincidence but rather the result of structural factors that make this month particularly volatile.

The tenth edition of Citywire’s Alpha Female report, published in September 2025, highlights a paradox. Over the past decade, assets managed by female fund managers have nearly tripled, rising from 1.7 trillion euro in 2016 to 4.7 trillion euro today. Yet the share of women in the profession has barely advanced: 10.3 percent in 2016 versus just 12.9 percent this year.

Once seen as compliance or ideology, ESG is becoming part of ordinary risk management. Interviews with asset owners, managers and analysts in Amsterdam, the UK and the Netherlands show how sustainability is increasingly embedded in long term investment strategies.

Stocks are extremely expensive, so it’s just a matter of time before the markets collapse. The next mega market crisis already has a name: the bursting of the AI bubble.