Investment Officer Luxembourg

Luxembourg funds may well be too expensive. Investment fund managers of Ucits funds in Luxembourg, home to about a third of all such funds in Europe, have been ordered to review, and if necessary correct, the way they calculate the costs and fees of their investment funds and report back to their national regulator before April 1 next year. 

Jean-Paul Servais has been appointed as chair of the board of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions, or Iosco, the international policy forum for securities regulators. He will replace Ashley Alder, former CEO of the Hong Kong  Securities and Futures Commission who will become chair of UK regulator FCA in January.

Luxembourg’s financial institutions need to swiftly make significant changes in order to keep up with the changing labour market if they want to continue attracting top talent, Luxembourg for Finance said in a new report on the job market.

Housing markets in major cities across the world face a “prolonged stagnation” in purchase prices and a price correction. House owners and real estate investors should not expect the market to trend sideways. It’s “game over” for housing markets, Swiss bank UBS writes in its latest Real Estate Bubble Report.

With a rise in interest rates, finance costs have increased while financial markets across the world have been rocked by geopolitical developments and severe declines in asset prices. 

Luxembourg is one of six countries that are most competitive in terms of taxes among the world’s 38 most developed economies, according to the latest International Tax Competitiveness Index. 

While this might seem to lend ammunition to those who criticise Luxembourg as a tax haven, the picture painted in the report is somewhat nuanced. For example, it also ranks fellow cross-border business hub Ireland as 35^th out of the 38 OECD member states.

Funds investing in emerging market bonds lost for the third quarter in a row when measured in dollars, but made a small gain in euros. 

Asset services provider Apex Group has announced a collaboration with BlackRock’s eFront to provide its ESG data consulting services to investors in private markets.

The big difference between bonds and equities is that cash flows in bonds are fixed in advance. It makes inflation the great enemy of bonds. With equities, the effect of inflation is more complex. Companies that raise prices often realise higher sales as a result. But with a lag, inflation, in the form of rising wages and rising interest rates, creates margin pressure, as do rising energy prices.

When it comes to ESG and sustainable investing, Luxembourg’s financial regulator is keen to ensure that investment funds will stick to their promises when they sell products that are branded as green and sustainable. More guidance is coming soon, and the regulator plans “a deep compliance check” for the third quarter of 2023.