Investing

“Providers are gearing up to launch their crypto-ETFs in America, Europe and Asia, as soon as the regulator gives permission. As the custodian bank of some of these trackers, State Street is counting on about 20 new products initially, with a variety of products over time, including single asset crypto funds and baskets of cryptos,” said State Street’s Swen Werner, in a conversation with Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication.

Every day, Natixis IM’s head of multi asset James Beaumont and his team wonder how much higher the equity markets can go. Yet, according to him, the issue that is keeping multi asset investors awake at the moment is something else. What should they do with government bonds? 

The 300 largest pension funds in the world together had 21,700 billion US dollars under management in 2020. An increase of 11.5 percent, according to a study by Willis Towers Watson, in cooperation with the American platform Pensions & Investments. Prevailing trend: becoming more complex, but above all more holistic. 

You may have noticed that when Whatsapp starts a new chat, it displays a message that “end-to-end encryption” is being used. This means that the content of the messages cannot be read by anyone other than the people in the chat (though some question the extent of this). Facebook, the owner of Whatsapp, knows something about who you were in contact with and when, but not (necessarily) what it was about.

With almost all indices worldwide at record highs and US stock markets doubling in value after the March 2020 low following the Covid-19 crisis, the risk of a correction is increasing, according to European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European stock market watchdog, in a statement released yesterday. 

Investing in green property not only has social added-value, but also reduces the financial risk in the property portfolio. Experts warn that outdated, non-sustainable buildings are in danger of becoming unlettable. 

In 2008, the ECB changed its approach to a “full allotment” system. “Those apparently meaningless words explain why the savings interest rate is currently zero percent. It is also a benchmark to watch for when the savings interest will rise again.

“The relative performance of emerging markets versus developed markets is in cycles. At the moment we are in a downward cycle. Today almost everyone is negative, but certainly in China there are companies with huge cash flows that are very innovative and offer opportunities for an active manager,” said Gino Delaere (photo), emerging markets specialist and fund manager at Econopolis, from Singapore, where he has been living and working for years.

“The United States remains the place to be for investors, despite the significant outperformance in recent years. Nowhere are you better served as an equity investor. For emerging markets, caution is especially necessary after the recent debacles in China.

It is better to reduce overweight positions to neutral and wait until the fog lifts. Especially in China,” investment strategist, consultant and author Jan Longeval of Kounselor Consulting BV told Investment Officer in a recent conversation.

“Risks in real estate markets were on the rise” in 2020 according to the recently-published annual report by the CSSF financial regulator. A range of indicators point to the increased level of debt across the Luxembourg economy and with it, the risks to local lenders. This has driven the CSSF to act to reduce vulnerabilities.