Private debt momentum keeps up, but challenges lurk
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.
Haroon Sheikh: ‘Struggle between great powers has only just begun’
The long-assumed stability of Europe is over. Wars on the periphery, a crumbling system of free world trade, and great powers using economic interdependence as a weapon: the continent is under pressure. “The world in which investors must navigate has become more unpredictable.”
‘Stick to the plan’: CIOs urge calm amid market whiplash
Diversification remains the cornerstone of asset allocation, investment strategists agreed at Investment Officer’s Portfolio Day, as volatility upends assumptions about safe assets.
Former Belgian PM Leterme questions NATO’s 5% defense push
Just two weeks ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has sharply criticized the alliance’s proposed five-percent-of-GDP defense target, calling it a “collective irrationality” that risks overwhelming European decision-making.
Luxembourg holds the line on sustainable investing
Despite a US backlash, Luxembourg champions still sustainable investing through institutional support, regulatory debate, and industrial innovation.
What could go wrong in private markets investments?
Institutional investors remain wary of semi-liquid private funds, a sentiment that was on full display at this year’s Luxembourg Meeting for Private Markets Investments, a German-language private markets conference known as Lumpi.
Private banks keen to embrace tech without undermining values
While digitalisation offers efficiency and scalability, it cannot replace the trust and personalisation that high-net-worth clients expect from their private banks and wealth managers. Investment Officer’s Raymond Frenken reports from The Banking Scene event in Luxembourg.
The great danger in consensus forecasts; CIOs address 2025
Several chief investment officers from Dutch private banks have raised concerns about the “great danger” of consensus forecasts on US equities for 2025.
Sustainable funds rush to rebrand amid greenwashing crackdown
Asset managers are scrambling to rebrand their sustainable investment funds as stepped-up regulatory crackdowns on greenwashing risk deepening fragmentation in the industry, experts warned at the Morningstar Sustainable Investing Summit in Amsterdam.
Investors grapple with human rights as rules evolve
At an Amsterdam panel discussion on Friday hosted by Morningstar, industry experts delved into the complexities of integrating human rights considerations into investment decisions and engagement strategies.