Investment Officer Luxembourg

Luxembourg business representatives have said that the OECD’s Inclusive Framework Pillar One and Two corporate income tax proposals contain risks of excessive complexity, could put state tax authorities under pressure, increase the likelihood of litigation and could put competitiveness at risk.

International financial regulators, considering lessons learned from defusing systemic risks in the banking sector, have set their sights on similar risk tools to reduce the systemic risks associated with open-ended bond funds. An industry representative claims that such macroprudential tools won’t work as regulators don’t fully understand how fund management works. The markets, meanwhile, have little faith that regulators can effectively resolve this daunting conundrum.

Fund selectors are by no means in pause mode around the introduction of the next level of sustainability regulation, now that SFDR level 2 has been postponed by six months. They are busy collecting data, against a background of seemingly increasing complexity, according to responses to Fondsnieuws from chief operating officer Monique Molenaar-Vader of IBS Capital Allies and chief investment officer Kees Verbaas of Altis Investment Management.

Investors are increasingly turning to alternative instruments for diversification, risk mitigation and to future-proof their returns, especially given today’s market conditions. This has resulted in surging interest in alternative investments from a wider variety of market participants, which is forcing the alternative asset servicing industry to adapt to new demands. 

The two oil crises of the 1970s are notorious. In 1973, the oil price went from $3 a barrel to $12 a barrel in two weeks, and in 1979 the oil price rose from $12 a barrel to $33 a barrel. OPEC’s power was great in the 1970s. OPEC’s market share is now rising. This year, moreover, demand for oil will exceed supply for the first time.

Last year, oil prices already rose by 50 per cent. A new oil crisis is in the offing. 

So goes January, so goes the year, it is sometimes said. If so, Mr Market has decided that the Covid-19 pandemic is behind us. This has investment implications: the long duration narrative will fade into the background, and “real economy” stocks will outperform again.

The conglomerate of conglomerates, Berkshire Hathaway, has been staging a strong rally in recent weeks. Warren Buffett’s vehicle has risen sharply on the back of its substantial position in Apple, which recently passed the $3 trillion mark. But there is more to it.

“Never waste a good crisis” is an English expression that you can safely leave to the French and Italians. In the political “no man’s land of Christmas”, and moreover shortly after Angela Merkel stepped down as Chancellor and on the eve of the French Presidency of the European Council, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Mario Draghi chose their moment.

They fired a targeted flare into the dark December night over the European Union.

European wealth reached unprecedented levels last year and is increasingly concentrated among families whose capital returns continue to outpace flagging economic growth during the pandemic, said a new report by a Zurich-based think tank. Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium emerged as countries with the highest density of millionaires in the EU.