The event, jointly organised and presented by Deloitte, Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen (EHP) and RBS (Luxembourg) S.A, gathered over 400 local and international participants.

Welcoming speakers such as Cary Stier (Global Investment Management Leader, Deloitte USA), Christian Dargnat (President, European Fund and Asset Management Association) and Jean-Pierre Zigrand (Director, Systemic Risk Centre at London School of Economics), the conference is steadily becoming the reference of the fund year for thought leadership, the exchange of ideas and discussion on the core business of Luxembourg’s fund industry.
The discussions and workshops have developed into a regulatory journey across the world from Asia to Latin America, with the added dimension of product and above all distribution.

The speakers discussed how, while assets under management are continuing to grow, that with half of collective European savings in deposits or cash, the asset management industry still has room for development. On the other hand, regulators need to take into account that over-regulating the asset management industry could shrink the market by potentially restricting choice or cutting investors off from appropriate advice.
In line with this reflection, discussions examined the impact that U.S. regulations have on the global industry. With the high expectations of investors, the speakers debated the idea that the industry needs to change its service and investment offering, opening up the market to boutique offerings and new ideas which might have an impact on Europe.

The speakers also looked more closely at the regulatory changes affecting the distribution of funds (UCITS IV, PRIPS, MiFID II, AIFMD), and the trend towards  greater transparency, more governance, more security for investors - all principles that have been influencing the fund industry in general for some while.

Among other subjects, the current fund environment and challenges to distribution emanating from inducement rules as proposed under MiFID II were examined. The discussions revolved around the impact of member states who look to ‘gold plate’ these measures and how the cost and efficiency of distribution may be impacted.

Lou Kiesch, partner at Deloitte Luxembourg, explains: “Luxembourg will need to be innovative and find new distribution models to deal with a multiple landscape, a challenge that Luxembourg with its expertise in cross-border distribution is particularly well placed to meet.”

Jérôme Wigny, partner at EHP, analysed the opportunities for Luxembourg under the AIFMD and confirmed that the country has an excellent role to play within the alternative asset space going forward.

Inevitably, there was focus on the latest developments concerning AML and KYC policies and a lot of interest in the workshop dealing with how private placements are evolving with the implementation of AIFMD. All these changes were put into the context of the latest developments around the world, the passporting and mutual recognition initiatives in Asia and the view from the United States in the wake of Dodd Frank, taking into account the impact these regulations could have on Europe.

To find out more and re-visit the highlights of the conference, a podcast has been made available at: www.deloitte.com/lu/podcast/cross-border-distribution