As investor demands and regulations are on the rise and Brexit is shaking the industry, fund industry professionals turned to the fifth Cross-Border Distribution Conference for thorough discussions on the way ahead.

Deloitte Luxembourg and Elvinger Hoss Prussen gathered around 500 senior fund professionals at the fifth annual Cross-Border Distribution Conference at the European Convention Center last Wednesday. The conference, which this year again was supported by Financial Times Live, gave the participants a comprehensive view of the current challenges facing the fund industry, with a renewed focus on the role of investors.

The conference has become an important forum for discussion for fund professionals in Luxembourg and beyond. The current political context led the Luxembourg minister of finance Pierre Gramegna to call for open borders and business collaboration in his closing remarks.

Agility first

Through six panel discussions and several keynote speeches, high-profile industry professionals shared their views on how to capitalise on the current regulatory and political environment to create opportunities and value in the future.

“RegTech and the ongoing digitalisation of distribution activities - combined with an unexpected political context - are reshaping the fund industry. In a world of low income and highly-regulated activities, innovative thinking will create a competitive advantage in fund distribution as in other industries. Our goal with this conference is to provoke debate and new thinking,” explained Lou Kiesch, partner at Deloitte Luxembourg and co-host of the conference.

The conference offered a variety of perspectives on meeting investor expectations in a low-growth world, managing liquidity risk, new product development and progress toward CMU, and highlighted how technology is transforming the business of investment. The last and much anticipated panel dedicated to Brexit discussed the possible implications of Brexit on distribution and fund passporting. The overall message from the many panel discussions was that to thrive in this evolving environment, the cross-border fund industry will need to demonstrate innovation, agility, and transparency.

“Brexit has created an environment in the EU which we would certainly have preferred not to have arisen, but Luxembourg provides solutions that are looked upon favorably by UK asset managers, as such solutions aim at minimising disruption in the way in which those managers currently operate,” commented Jacques Elvinger, partner at Elvinger Hoss Prussen and co-host of the conference.

A-list speakers

The list of speakers included more than 30 internationally renowned figures, including eminent industry professionals, asset managers, regulators, policy makers, political figures and other thought leaders.