Supervision

The Luxembourg bar association ia applying a form of shock therapy to lawyers taking a laissez-faire view of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws, but its disciplinary body has nevertheless found a loophole allowing it to continue this country’s tradition of not publicly identifying the guilty.

The European Securities and Markets Authority, or Esma, on Thursday announced that from 2025, cyber risk and digital resilience in Europe’s securities sector will take precedence alongside ESG reporting in terms of overarching priorities for the supervisors in EU member states.

Les propositions de modification des règles de l’UE concernant les fonds d’investissement alternatifs ont survécu sans trop de dommages aux discussions techniques à Bruxelles. Le résultat de ces discussions de « niveau 1 » signifie que la révision des directives AIFMD et OPCVM est à nouveau en bonne voie pour être achevée prochainement.

Luxembourg, a hub for global finance, has seen a significant uptick in alerts on questionable transactions that could signal money laundering or even finance terrorism.

The Luxembourg Ucits market, a cornerstone of the European investment landscape, demonstrated both its strength and vulnerability in the face of 2022’s economic turbulence, with fund managers navigating increased market and credit risks, while maintaining prudent leverage and liquidity management.

Les autorités de surveillance financière de toute l’Europe s’emploient activement à fournir des orientations sectorielles sur les déclarations de durabilité que les entreprises financières associent à leurs produits. Au Luxembourg, la CSSF a exposé ses attentes à l’égard des gestionnaires de fonds d’investissement dans un rapport thématique publié en août. Son homologue néerlandais, l’AFM, a depuis lors publié ses propres lignes directrices.

Luxembourg’s financial supervisor CSSF on Wednesday urged banks, investment funds and the general public in the Grand Duchy to be extra vigilant in relation to money transfers that could finance groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The reminder comes just a month after the world’s top body for fighting money laundering and terrorism finance said the sector’s understanding of terrorism finance is «very low».

Bien que la consultation de l’UE sur le très discuté Règlement sur la divulgation d’informations en matière de finance durable (SFDR) ne s’achève qu’en décembre, les premiers contours du futur SFDR 2.0 se précisent peu à peu.

Though the EU consultation of the much-debated Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation is set to conclude only in December, the outlines of what will be termed as SFDR 2.0 are gradually emerging.

On 11 July 2023, the European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) updated its guidance in relation to the definition of “advice”. This was rendered through a supervisory briefing which basically an update of the previous Q&As issued by CESR - Esma’s predecessor - on this topic.