Investment Officer Luxembourg

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.”

This week’s overview of people transfers and appointments includes updates from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management, KPMG and BDO Luxembourg, and Marktlink Capital.

Open defiance from Stephen Miran underscores political tensions at the Fed, though markets still expect gradual easing.

Van Lanschot Kempen is preparing to enter the active ETF market through a new partnership with State Street Investment Management. The Amsterdam-based boutique, known for its smallcap and euro credit strategies, will rely on State Street’s infrastructure and distribution networks to launch its first exchange-traded funds within six to nine months.

At ALFI’s private assets conference in Kirchberg, policymakers and asset managers championed private markets as vital for Europe’s growth and as a bridge for retail investors through ELTIFs. Yet speakers also warned that education gaps, transparency issues, and regulatory hurdles could constrain the sector’s ambitions.

October has a bad reputation in the markets. The biggest crashes in history – 1929, 1987, and 2008 – all took place in October. This pattern does not appear to be a coincidence but rather the result of structural factors that make this month particularly volatile.

The tenth edition of Citywire’s Alpha Female report, published in September 2025, highlights a paradox. Over the past decade, assets managed by female fund managers have nearly tripled, rising from 1.7 trillion euro in 2016 to 4.7 trillion euro today. Yet the share of women in the profession has barely advanced: 10.3 percent in 2016 versus just 12.9 percent this year.

Once seen as compliance or ideology, ESG is becoming part of ordinary risk management. Interviews with asset owners, managers and analysts in Amsterdam, the UK and the Netherlands show how sustainability is increasingly embedded in long term investment strategies.

Stocks are extremely expensive, so it’s just a matter of time before the markets collapse. The next mega market crisis already has a name: the bursting of the AI bubble.