Investment Officer Luxembourg

The investment fund business is continuously trying to keep up with updates, guidelines and new rules. Another major impact will soon hit the fund business. On 6 November 2023, the Council of the European Union published the final text of the amendments to the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).

As financial markets teeter on the precipice of expectation and reality, this week’s central bank decisions on interest rates and monetary policy could be the lynchpin that redefines investor sentiment for the coming months.

At the heart of this tumultuous period are the central banking trifecta - the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Bank of England (BoE) - whose final meetings of the year are eagerly awaited amidst robust employment data.

In a world grappling with economic fragmentation, geopolitical tensions, and inflationary pressures, chief investment officers at Europe’s three largest asset managers – Amundi, DWS, and Schroders – see 2024 as a year poised for cautious optimism amid ongoing economic uncertainty. 

Luxembourg’s Financial Intelligence Unit is key to fulfilling Luxembourg’s international anti-money laundering/terrorist financing prevention obligations, reducing the perception that this country’s financial sector is somehow “above the rules”. Investment Officer recently had an opportunity to speak with FIU director Max Braun.

Ucits and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) experienced mixed fortunes during the third quarter, according to the latest statisstics reported by Brussels-based European fund sector trade association Efama. Net assets of these investment funds dipped to 19.7 trillion euro, down 0.6 percent from the second quarter, reflecting a cautious market sentiment.

Germany is witnessing an economic downturn, a phenomenon receiving surprisingly scant attention. This mirrors a broader European trend of overlooking the foundations of prosperity in favor of more sensational topics.

Germany’s robust industrial sector, about 20 percent of its GDP, is the linchpin of its economic success.

The chemistry and energy-intensive industries are vital here, consuming 77 percent of the industrial energy and contributing significantly to the GDP.

Will fund managers soon be retiring as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly prevalent and consistently outperforms the market? Or is this notion exaggerated? Investment Officer spoke to Thomas Dierckx, a financial machine learning expert at Kairon Labs.

In a recent speech, Christine Lagarde highlighted the dire implications of prolonged high inflation, linking it to the very fabric of democracy. This sentiment, echoed in my book “Turning Point 1971,” underlines the non-economic ramifications of inflation, often overshadowed by its economic impacts.