Asset Servicing

Former ECB president and prime minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, has written a report containing the obvious yet completely unnecessary conclusion that Europe has completely missed the boat on innovation and competitiveness. ‘Duh!’

This week’s overview of transfers, appointments, promotions and other career news in the international fund and asset management community includes updates from Schroders, TMF, La Française and Vistra.

BlackRock and Euroclear on Tuesday announced a partnership aimed at expanding the distribution of Blackrock’s private market funds through Euroclear’s FundsPlace platform. This collaboration focuses on making private markets more accessible to a wider range of investors by utilising Euroclear’s fund distribution network.

Small-cap stocks have long underperformed their large-cap counterparts, now trading at a discount. For those with a long-term perspective, this could represent a compelling entry point, says Scott Woods, manager of the Columbia Threadneedle Global Smaller Companies fund.

The proposed abolition of the current Non-Dom tax regime marks a significant shift in the UK’s fiscal framework. The new Labour UK government will be taking forward earlier plans to harmonise UK tax resident individuals’ taxation on the basis of their worldwide income and gains, albeit with some modifications.

In the apparently almost never-ending battle against greenwashing, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) set a next step by publishing, on 21 August 2024, its new guidelines on funds’ names using ESG or sustainability-related terms (the Guidelines).

This week’s overview of transfers, appointments, and other career news in the fund and asset management community in and around Luxembourg includes updates from Bank Lombard Odier, European Depositary Bank and Blackrock.

Partners Group, the Swiss-based private markets investment firm that is also a major player in Luxembourg, has reported a significant decline in performance fees for the first half of 2024 because investment exits are being postponed and becoming more difficult.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced new regulations requiring fund managers to disclose their investment holdings on a monthly basis, replacing the current quarterly reporting schedule.

Technological dominance is the new geopolitical battleground. Companies and countries alike must embrace artificial intelligence if they don’t want to be left behind. This is part six in Investment Officer’s seven-part special series on geopolitics and investing.