Staying ahead of the game

Luxembourg is fast catching up with France in their neck-and-neck race to become Europe's largest investment fund centre. In February, assets under management in Luxembourg domiciled investment funds passed the milestone of e1 trillion to reach an all-time high of e1.03 trillion at the end of March. Over the 12 months ending in the first quarter of 2004, this represents an increase of net assets in Luxembourg funds by almost e209bn, or over 25%. Such strong growth might be surprising in the light of the financial scandals concerning market timing and late trading practices that shook the U...