Investment Officer Luxembourg

Morningstar on Monday posted its European asset flows data for February 2024, revealing significant investor interest in equity and fixed-income funds amidst anticipation of interest-rate cuts.

Europe-domiciled long-term funds reported net inflows of 19.4 billion euro during the month, with equity funds experiencing their second consecutive month of positive inflows, amounting to 5.1 billion euro. This growth was predominantly seen in passive equity funds, which attracted 19.1 billion euro, whereas active equity funds continued to see outflows.

Amundi on Monday announced the expansion of its global equities offering with the launch of the Amundi Prime All Country World Ucits ETF, now listed on Xetra. The Paris-headquartered firm said its new fund aims to offer investors cost-efficient, highly-diversified equity exposure across both developed and emerging markets, boasting the lowest management fees for an all-country ETF on the European market at 0.07%.

The EU’s retail investment package will come up for a vote at the Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on the evening of Wednesday, 20 March.

The flow of money into sustainable investment funds, notably ESG funds, in Luxembourg significantly reversed last year when compared to a year earlier, according to data presented by the Belgian asset managers association Beama. 

Comparatively minimal macroeconomic news of substance emerges from China; however, the information that does reach me through Bloomberg and other outlets offers little cause for optimism. To illustrate the initial point: a decade ago, China’s National Bureau of Statistics released over 80,000 economic indicators; presently, this figure has dwindled to fewer than 10,000.

This week’s overview of transfers, appointments, promotions and other people news includes updates from Belfius, Fidelity International, BeLuThai, and the Luxembourg Press Council.

Sofie Geukens

Sofie Geukens (photo) will take on the role of head of alternative investments at Belgian bank Belfius from 1 April. She currently serves as the firm’s head of investment solutions and fund selection.

Nicolas Bannier (photo) will succeed Christophe Wintgens as Wealth & Asset Management Leader at EY Luxembourg, effective 1 July 2024. Olivier Bertrand will take over from Dietmar Klos as Real Estate Leader, also commencing 1 July 2024.

The European Long-Term Investment Fund (Eltif) regulation, initially introduced in 2015, has been revamped to Eltif 2.0, entering into effect in January 2024. This revised regulation is poised to significantly influence the landscape of private credit investment in Europe, according to Michael George, lead portfolio manager of M&G’s Corporate Credit Opportunities Eltif Fund.

US President Joe Biden has outlined his ambitions for comprehensive tax reforms targeting large corporations and private equity funds, with the market’s attention remaining steadfastly on interest rates.

President Biden’s ideal scenario would see businesses shouldering higher tax burdens, a reduction in executive compensation, and a quadrupling of the costs for shareholder buybacks.