Investment Officer Global

Asset owners representing 3.7 trillion dollars in capital sent a clear message to their asset managers at the end of January: stay committed to net zero. Demand for climate strategies among institutional investors in Europe remains firmly intact.

This week’s overview of people moves in Luxembourg and beyond.

The unrest in the Middle East has affected Emerging Market Debt (EMD) through rising rates and higher risk premiums. There is no indication, for now, of a structural deterioration in credit risk.

The fact that some bond issuances are now oversubscribed by as much as ten times illustrates how sharply market sentiment has shifted. After more than a decade of interest rates close to zero, bonds in the eurozone are once again offering returns, around 3 to 4 percent for investment grade.

The conflict between the US and Iran is hitting the core of the Federal Reserve’s rate strategy. The one factor that was keeping rate cuts alive, falling housing costs, is now under pressure. Fed governor Stephen Miran’s bet that housing costs would keep falling fast enough to justify lower Fed rates is now being tested in the worst possible way.

The war against Iran has now lasted a month, and the consequences are becoming visible at a rapid pace. The conflict began as an American-Israeli operation targeting Iran’s nuclear program and the regime in Tehran. But while the United States and Israel are dropping bombs, Europe is absorbing the heaviest economic blows. The result of decades of failed European energy policy, strategic dependency, and a lack of geopolitical power.

A sweeping new EU regulation for ESG rating providers is set to reshape a market that Morningstar Sustainalytics has helped build, consolidating a fragmented industry and raising the compliance bar significantly.

For years, Luxembourg has been where funds are domiciled, administered, and reported on, while the actual investment decisions got made elsewhere. That may be shifting. Luxembourg is moving, slowly but surely, from being a back-office location to one with front-office roles.

If there is one thing that characterizes the investment world, it is that it is full of clichés, parrots, and an enormous reluctance to change. It is sometimes laughable how market experts produce the same one-liners for twenty years or bury you under their “market wisdom.”

Blackrock is an established behemoth with total assets that easily overwhelm its closest rivals, while UBS Asset Management is rebuilding following the acquisition of Credit Suisse Asset Management.