Within days the entire workforce was working remotely, with little disruption to output. Meanwhile investors were relatively relaxed too, with only a marginal outflow from Luxembourg-based vehicles.
“This experience shows that the industry is well organised, well-regulated and was well-prepared, and that there is a government looking after the industry,” noted Gilles Dusemon, a partner at Arendt & Medernach. In particular he highlighted the speed with which working from home was implemented.
Nicolas Mackel, CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, suggested that 85-90% of financial sector staff were working remotely three weeks after the lockdown. That the government could persuade the neighbouring countries to waive remote working restrictions for cross-border commuters was a key achievement.
Relatively moderate asset drop
Net assets in Luxembourg funds were down by 11.1% in March. However, only about a quarter of this was due to the net effect of investors withdrawing. Most was related to falling valuations of assets held by funds. So while the drop in net assets to the end of March…
