AGEFI Luxembourg - novembre 2023

Par Jean-Philippe DIBON et Alexandre CEGARRA, Société Générale Private Wealth Management * D ébut octobre, Société Générale Private Wealth Management (SGPWM) a eu le plaisir d’organiser une conférence sur le thème de la fi- nance durable. Cet événement invitait les participants à prendre conscience du formidable travail réa- lisé ces dernières an- nées par des acteurs clé de la place finan- cière du Luxembourg. Ce fut l’occasion d’approfondir, sous l’angle de l’investissement res- ponsable, l’approche de la classe d’actifs obliga- taire par une société de gestion. L’écosystème de la finance durable luxembourgeois est très por- teur pour une société de gestion comme SGPWM. Il favorise le travail quotidien de ses gérants d’actifs pour aligner ses portefeuilles d’investissement avec des trajectoires compati- bles avec l’objectif de neutralité carbone en 2050. Cette activité répond à l’engagement du groupe Société Générale en matière d’ESG ( environmen- tal, social, and corporate governance ), et son ambi- tion de devenir un leader en termes de durabilité. L’offre de gestion de SGPWM est majoritairement orientée vers une transition du- rable, avec la moitié des encours des fonds la- bellisés ESG. La création récente d’un fonds obligataire daté, Moorea SG Crédit Millésime 2028, souligne encore cet engagement avec une majorité de ses actifs investis en green bonds . Cet événement a rappelé la création en 2016 par la Bourse de Luxembourg (LuxSE) de la plateforme Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX) dédiée aux instru- ments financiers durables. Aujourd’hui, LGX affiche plus de 1700 obligations dura- bles qui représentent plus de 900 milliards d’euros en investissement durable, faisant de LGX la première plateforme de la finance durable. Comme l’a révélé l’échange entre Julie Becker, CEO de LuxSE et Alexandre Cegarra, CEO de SGPWM, l’activité de LuxSE fut très forte ces dernières années sur le plan international. Suite en page 5 PRIX DU NUMÉRO : EUR 5,50 Le Journal Financier de Luxembourg NUMERO 10/383 ISSN1561-8366 www.agefi.lu 41, Zone Industrielle, L-8287 Kehlen - Tel: +352 305757 1 - Fax: +352 24611564 - Email: agefi@agefi.lu NOVEMBRE 2023 valuepartners.lu Comprehensive solutions for the alternative investment funds industry 9HRLFQB*idgaab+[L\L Sommaire t Economie Agefi Luxembourg, apolitique ? (Adelin REMY, éditeur) p.4 La résilience a ses limites (Philippe LEDENT, ING) p.6 Les entreprises luxembourgeoises à bout de souffle (Baromètre Chambre de Commerce) p.9 t Assurances Le métier d’agent d’assurance : L’art de protéger et de conseiller (PhilippeGENICOT, FoyerAcademy) p.18 Congrès E-FORUM 2023 : Unis contre la cybercriminalité et les arnaques (Chambre de Commerce) p.18 t Fonds d’investissement La volatilité permanente (Olivier LECHEVALIER, DeftHedge) p.21 Il faut toujours garder l’espoir (Christopher DEMBIK, Pictet AM) p.22 Les implications de la guerre Israël-Hamas pour les investisseurs (Samy CHAAR, Lombard Odier) p.23 t Emploi / Droit Les grandes tendances de la rémunération au Luxembourg en 2023 (étude Hays) p.38 No more room for taxpayers’ mistakes (Romain BAROAN, Dentons) p.38 t Informatique financière Luxembourg BlockchainWeek: Tendances crypto & blockhain (Laurent MAROCHINI, SGSS) p.45 CESOP: Are you prepared for the go-live? (Olivier LAMBERT, Patrice FRITSCH, Eva CONSTANTIN, EY) p.47 Sommaire détaillé en page 2 5(*8/$725< &203/Ζ$1&( 6(17Ζ1(/ www.deloitte.lu Détailenpage9 valuepartners.lu ONE MISSION. YOURS. Key Takeaways: - The PwC Business Barometer reached -12 in November, down from -11 the previous month. - Apart from the transport sector, overall eco- nomic activity in Luxembourg experienced a decline in October. The slowdown in busi- ness activities had a direct impact on the unemployment rate, which rose to 5.5%. - Unemployment levels have also risen in the whole Euro Area, driven by a slowdown in the manufacturing and service sectors. - After the peak reached in mid-October due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, the price of Brent crude oil dropped gradually to pre-conflict levels, temporarily easing fears of a rebound in inflation. The Monthly PwC Barometer (FRQRPLF &RQILGHQFH LQGLFDWRU LQ FROODERUDWLRQ ZLWK $*(), /X[HPERXUJ Unemployment rises as economic activity weakens Read more on page 4 www.pwc.lu GSR is a unique ƌĞƉŽƌƚŝŶŕ ƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ ƚŚĂƚ ŕŝǀĞƐ ƚŚĞ ĞdžƉŽƐƵƌĞ of your portfolio to ^' ĐƌŝƚĞƌŝĂ and SDGs ĂůŝŕŶŵĞŶƚ . GreenEthica Sustainable Reporting (GSR) Contact us to know more: CRM@FARAD-IM.com www.FARAD-IM.com By Romain SWERTVAEGER (portrait) and Pierre-Yves AMÉ, EY Luxembourg * An impressive rise followed by more reasonable growth U ndoubtedly 2021 and early 2022 have seen the rise of Web3 – the third generation of the world wide web, open and decentralized – and funds dedicated to it, with inves- tors putting around 94 bil- lion US$ worldwide into Web3 projects (1) , most of this since 2021.This was pushed by several factors. First one being the democrati- zation and use of the blockchain technology beyond the cryptocur- rency world, as Web3 is based on a de- centralized architecture. Second, Web3 being the successor of the Web 2.0, commonly used by millions, the appetite was enormous in the alter- native investment world as everyone wanted to reiterate Web 1.0 and 2.0 success stories. In this context, venture capitalists and private equity firms were in strong competition to be the first to invest in these new projects, to not miss that train. In some cases, this race led to a lack of detailed reviews of the projects and to some extent overvaluation of businesses. Later in 2022, the landscape changed dra- matically from the almost unlimited funding period that started in 2021. The economic environment changed signifi- cantly in a context of inflation and rise in interest rates followed by the crypto winter and the collapse of FTX. By ex- tension, this slowed down growth in the Web3 space. A Crunchbase report (2) has shown that fund- ing into Web3 projects decreased by 78% in the first part of 2023 in comparison with 2021. According to the report, Web3 projects raised about 16 billion US$ in the first part of the year 2022. However, in 2023 and over the same period, it was just 3.6 billion US$. De- spite the challenging times, both Bitcoin and Ethereum showed impressive resilience; up by more than 80% and 70% in their prices respec- tively since the beginning of the year 2023. Generally speaking, fundraising objectives in the start-up world are harder to meet as money costs more and fund managers are looking closer at the business, looking for more mature investments than pure early-stage companies. However, it is to be noted that this is not specific to the Web 3 industry. Even in the field of artifi- cial intelligence (AI), which is very popular these days, we start to notice a less exponential growth. The latter does not mean that these busi- nesses are over but rather that they are entering the age of maturity. How can the interest for Web3 bounce back – what are the key points? Project maturity As in many innovative disruptive fields creating a huge technological shift, the frenetic growth is followed by a more linear one. The Web3 ecosys- tem will become more mature over time; this is the normal course of things with a market cleaned of the weakest projects and with a con- centration of players with strong proof of concept. In 2021 and 2022 there was a multitude of start- ups launching projects under the Web3 banner. Even though several venture capital funds in- vesting in Web3 were backed by major institu- tions such as the European Investment Fund, showing the crypto and blockchain world is not a niche anymore, it does not mean that Web3 in- dustry was mature enough. Continued on page 2 Web3 funds: what are the perspectives? PRIVATE EQUITY - de vous à moi La rubrique mensuelle du Private Equity Lireenpage24 par Laurent C APOLAGHI et Louis L E R OUX , EY Luxembourg Conférence de SGPWM sur la finance durable Le Luxembourg à la pointe de la durabilité Lire article en page 30