Luxembourg's fund industry rebounded by adding €253 billion in assets last month after the coronavirus pandemic put an end to a year of growth for Europe's largest investment fund centre, the country's financial regulator said on Wednesday. Assets in mutual funds domiciled in the Grand Duchy dropped by half a trillion euros in March as the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic and markets went into free fall. Investor confidence appeared to be returning after the initial battering though, with a 6% increase in assets in April from the previous month, bringing the total value to €4.4 trillion, a report published by the Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF) said. Assets under management had totalled €4.8 trillion in January. "The exceptional support measures implemented by most governments and central banks around the world to stabilise the economy …
On the Greek island of Mykonos, Mayor Kostas Koukas is desperately trying to revive the tourism that is the life blood of the local economy. Koukas, and his counterparts in towns and cities across Europe, are looking to salvage something from the summer season after the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a standstill. With the disease largely under control in Greece, Mykonos is in a strong position to benefit as restrictions are loosened more quickly than in harder-hit nations like Italy and Spain. “Residents want the island to open up not just to contain economic losses but also because tourism is our life,” Koukas said. “For sure, this season won’t be normal, but we want to open because it will be very important for the following ones.” After a two-month battle to contain the virus, European governments have begun slowly …
Working from home ensures better work-life balance, reduces traffic Teleworking should become more prevalent after the pandemic lockdown has shown the merits of the home office, Luxembourg's Green party said. Teleworking gives people a "real work-life balance", cuts peak-hour traffic and reduces pollution, the party's presidents said on Thursday. Workers across Luxembourg have not seen the inside of their offices for almost eight weeks, since the country went into lockdown on 16 March. But many firms have been able to continue with business as usual with staff working from a distance, including cross-border workers logging in from neighbouring countries. The Greens now want to maintain the "positive dynamic" of teleworking and make it part of a "new national strategy", presidents Djuna Bernard et Christian Kmiotek said at a conference. "Such a reform could be put in place in the short …
Home values in the grand duchy clocked up another year of double digit growth, according to a recent report released by a property listings website. Rents rose more modestly, but were still well ahead of the country’s 0.9% inflation rate. The real estate data came from the twice-yearly report put out by Athome. Rent Nationally, landlords were asking for an average of €1,616 per month to rent an apartment, as of March 2020. That is a rise of 6% compared to March 2019. The asking rent for a house was €2,963, up by a more restrained 2% over the previous year, per Athome. The Centre region was the priciest area. Landlords were asking for an average of €1,772 a month to rent a flat or €3,489 for a house. The least expensive area was the North region. Average asking rent …
Published by London-based commercial think-tank Z/Yen, the Global Green Finance Index (GGFI) is a benchmark publication covering the development of green finance in financial centres. It is based on a worldwide survey of financial professionals’ assessments of the quality and depth of green finance offerings in financial centres. LUXEMBOURG 2ND IN DEPTH, 6TH IN QUALITY In the GGFI edition published in March 2020, Amsterdam is considered as the world leader in terms of the depth of green financing, with Luxembourg in 2nd place and Copenhagen in 3rd. Luxembourg improved its rating quite considerably compared to the previous edition and retains its 2nd place. London comes out on top in the green finance quality ranking, followed by Amsterdam, Zurich, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Luxembourg ranks 6th, up one place compared to last year. The country gained 24 points in the rating. If …
The government said it has distributed €16.5m in emergency cash grants to small businesses and the self-employed. The €5,000 aid payments do not have to be reimbursed and are meant to help firms and freelancers get through the covid-19 cashflow crunch. The directorate general for small and medium-sized enterprises said it had received 14,600 inquiries and processed 4,800 applications. “In just eight days, around 3,300 applicants have already received financial assistance”, the directorate general said in a press release on 9 April. Lex Delles, the SME minister (DP), stated in the announcement: “We will continue to analyse each application quickly and carefully to ensure efficient support. However, we would like to point out that 1,900 incomplete applications were rejected. Needless to say, only complete applications can be processed in a timely manner.” Information about the government’s aid schemes for SMEs …
Regardless of whether you are a Luxembourg resident or an occasional visitor, you can now travel all over the country without paying anything. This decision is part of an ambitious programme aimed at making public transport easily accessible for everyone. The ambition is also to have a positive impact on the environment, as new users will hopefully choose to benefit from the free public transports and leave their cars at home.
The European Commission has greenlighted a €300m loan package mobilised by Luxembourg’s government to help businesses in difficulty because of the coronavirus crisis. The support measure is aimed at companies and the self-employed working in liberal professions and takes the form of a repayable advance up to €500,000 per company. The commission wrote in a Tuesday press release that the measure was “necessary, appropriate and proportionate to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy of a member state.” Under a commission framework that will be in place until December 2020, member states are allowed to offer direct grants, tax advantages and advance payments up to €800,000 per company, state guarantees for bank loans, subsidized public loans to companies, safeguards to banks that channel state aid to the real economy and short-term export credit insurance. Further details on what kind of …