Asset Servicing

Geopolitical unrest is forcing investors to reassess their portfolios. As bonds lose their strength, volatile asset classes are returning as an alternative for diversification, said Jitzes Noorman, delegated CIO and investment strategist at Columbia Threadneedle Investments.

This week’s overview of people transfers in and around Luxembourg includes updates from Pictet, LuxTrust, Deutsche Bank, and Block Asset Management.

The fees private equity managers earn on successful deals are no longer just a matter of compensation. For the pension funds and insurers that bankroll the industry, the way those payouts are calculated has become a test of governance, and an increasingly important influence on where capital flows next.

The Eltif label is emerging as more than a regulatory badge. Under Europe’s revised Solvency 2 regime, it is becoming the most reliable route for insurers to secure and retain lower capital charges in private markets, say Sebastiaan Hooghiemstra, Juliane Hurter and Daan Maas of Loyens & Loeff.

Imagine this: your boss can see exactly when you’re sitting at your desk, what time you arrive, what time you leave, and when you take lunch. It almost sounds like a nightmare from a dystopian novel, but for 300 equity analysts, this was daily reality between 2017 and 2021.

Corporate governance is one of those topics investors prefer to push into the background as long as markets are rising. Yet the quality of corporate governance is one of the most decisive factors for the long-term valuation of an equity market.

Every May, a ritual unfolds in Omaha, Nebraska that I have never quite understood. Thousands of investors fly to a shareholder meeting in the middle of the American Midwest to hear a wise old man explain that smart investors can probably find better uses for their money than flying to shareholder meetings in the middle of the American Midwest.

Active asset allocation is a double-edged sword. Executed well, tactical shifts can generate alpha and differentiate from the benchmark. The trade-off is greater complexity, with more moving parts and higher demands on skill and discipline. Investors should also assess the costs of tactical allocation.

A Belgian-led private fund, structured as a Luxembourg RAIF, at the center of a Dutch regulatory probe has acknowledged serious failures in governance and investor reporting, as it attempts to rebuild trust with two wealth managers whose clients were exposed to the structure.