“It is true that [the Luxembourg] Stock Exchange is not really very strong in the secondary market,” said Carlo Oly, head of relationship management at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. However, he specified that the LuxSE has “always been very strong in the listing activity on the primary market side” and he admitted that it is also “extremely important” to offer “a certain level of liquidity for the instruments that we list.” Oly participated in a panel on fund listing at the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry’s Private Assets conference on 26 September 2024.
He explained that the LuxSE has started several initiatives and added that the starting point is to convince the Luxembourg ecosystem to trade on the LuxSE. Yet he acknowledged that the number of local participants is relatively limited.
Oly said that the exchange has tried to attract international players “over the last years,” and that some “trading members” from neighbouring countries such as Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands have “become more active.”
The focus has been on bonds through their “Luxx prime trading window,” which lists around 1500 securities on which the LuxSE has liquidity providers. He stressed that the firm aims to extend the role of the latter to other asset classes such as investment funds.
Getting more retail participation
As Eltifs become more prominent, Oly thinks that listings and greater liquidity “may be a way for retail investors to exit [their positions] via the stock exchange.” Moreover, he suggested that it could also make the life of fund manager easier given the complexity of managing redemptions.
