Asset Servicing

The fortunes of corporate bonds seem heavily reliant on a ‘soft landing’ scenario, given the tight spreads. However, recent history reminds us that spreads can easily double during a recession.

This week’s overview includes updates from the EBRD, Degroof Petercam, Solidum and Lighthouse Canton.

Aegon N.V. has named Shawn C.D. Johnson as the new Chief Executive Officer of Aegon Asset Management (Aegon AM). Johnson will assume his role on 23 September, succeeding Bas NieuweWeme, who is stepping down to pursue other career opportunities. NieuweWeme will remain with the company as an advisor until 1 December to ensure a smooth transition.

In light of the recent blockchain law proposal, founder and CEO of Moniflo, Georges Bock, shares his views on the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in transforming capital market infrastructure.

A new (American) recession remains a hot topic. And it’s understandable because a significant series of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, coupled with an inverted yield curve, typically leads to economic trouble. You’d need a well-supported “this time is different” argument to claim there’s no chance of a recession.

Investors continue to have unwavering confidence in oil company Shell, according to recent research by De Nederlandsche Bank. This makes Shell still a cornerstone in many Dutch investment portfolios. However, professional investors view (fossil) energy stocks very differently.

The outages and disruptions impacting the financial sector this month serve as stern reminders about vulnerabilities linked to tech reliance. Regulations such as DORA, however, show a certain maturity to pre-empt such problems, experts say.

If you want to generate returns through stocks, focus on companies that achieve a higher return on invested capital than it costs to raise that capital. This is the essence of value creation.

Banque Havilland, once a discreet player in the European private banking sector, is now caught in a severe regulatory storm. This case has also reignited old tensions related to the 2009 sale of Icelandic bank Kaupthing’s Luxembourg unit to the Rowland family, the financiers behind Banque Havilland.

Marc Meyers and Sebastiaan Hooghiemstra at Loyens & Loeff highlight the key changes in the draft regulatory technical standards for Eltifs, and see the latest proposal by the European Commission as a “reasonably workable” match for Luxembourg’s market practice.