NEWSLETTER of September 25, 2026

The following content has been added at finexpert:

CFA Institute
PRIVATE MARKET INVESTMENT IN THE EU: PRUDENT ACCESS FOR RETAIL INVESTORS
Private equity, private credit and other illiquid assets are gaining importance in Europe as potential sources of corporate and infrastructure finance. The report examines the revised European Long-Term Investment Fund framework, which has encouraged new fund launches but still represents only around EUR 34 billion of assets under management. While broader access may improve diversification and expected returns, private-market funds also entail limited transparency, complex valuations, high costs, conflicts of interest and restricted liquidity. The CFA Institute therefore recommends stronger suitability standards, clearer disclosures and greater integration of EU capital markets before these products are distributed more widely to retail investors. >more

Bertelsmann Stiftung | Centre for European Reform | Jacques Delors Centre
HOW TO REVIVE EUROPE’S STOCK MARKET LISTINGS
European equity markets have fallen behind the United States in both scale and IPO activity, while around EUR 10 trillion of EU household wealth remains in low-risk bank deposits. The authors identify weak equity demand, fragmented trading across more than 30 exchanges and an insufficient pipeline of large, listing-ready companies as the principal obstacles. They recommend pension and retail-investment reforms, market-driven integration of European exchanges and a new pan-European growth market for promising companies. Deeper and more liquid public markets would help European firms finance expansion, improve valuations and reduce the incentive to list or relocate outside Europe. >more

Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA)
JOINT COMMITTEE UPDATE ON RISKS AND VULNERABILITIES IN THE EU FINANCIAL SYSTEM – AUTUMN 2026
The European Supervisory Authorities find the EU financial sector resilient but exposed to geopolitical shocks, non-EU infrastructure dependencies and rapidly evolving cyber, AI and quantum-computing risks. They devote particular attention to private credit, where limited transparency, uncertain valuations, leverage and liquidity mismatches could transmit stress across funds, insurers and banks. EU private-credit funds remain comparatively small, with EUR 97.1 billion in assets, while reported EU/EEA bank exposures to private-credit funds and related asset managers reached almost EUR 150 billion. The authorities recommend stronger exposure monitoring, resilience testing, crisis preparedness and risk management across business lines. >more

Deutsche Bundesbank
MONTHLY REPORT – SEPTEMBER 2026
The Bundesbank examines four issues with direct relevance for Germany and the euro area: the sovereign-bank nexus, German banks' 2025 earnings, sectoral differences in monetary-policy transmission and agentic payments. German credit institutions delivered another strong year, with operating income reaching a record EUR 172.5 billion, up 4.1%, although competitive and digitalisation pressures remain. The report also argues that banks remain vulnerable to fiscal stress despite stronger capital positions and the European resolution regime. Its economic commentary expects only slight German growth in the third quarter but views temporary factors, including low Rhine water levels, as delaying rather than ending the recovery. >more

World Economic Forum
LEADERS FOR EUROPEAN GROWTH AND COMPETITIVENESS – FIRST EDITION 2026
Europe combines a market of 450 million consumers with deep household savings, industrial capabilities, a strong STEM talent base and a predictable institutional environment, yet it has struggled to turn these strengths into investment and scale. Prepared with Accenture, McKinsey and Oliver Wyman, the report proposes actions across clean energy and industry, technology and innovation, financial markets and external partnerships. Its finance chapter focuses on mobilising private savings, deepening capital markets and advancing the Savings and Investments Union. The report offers a practical agenda for improving European competitiveness and financing the infrastructure required for the energy and digital transitions. >more

DECENTRALIZED VOTING IN MUTUAL FUND FAMILIES
Roni Michaely, Matthew C. Ringgenberg, Silvina Rubio, and Irene Yi
2026
We provide the first large-sample evidence that decentralized voting is widespread within mutual fund families. Contrary to the view that families vote as unified blocs, we find that more than one-third of families exhibit evidence of decentralized voting, starting as early as 2006. We measure decentralization using voting disagreement within the family, which is low unconditionally due to the high volume of routine proposals, but rises substantially for controversial proposals, environmental and social issues, and when proxy advisors recommend voting "against." Decentralized voting is more prevalent in families with more active funds and greater stewardship resources, and funds within a family vote more similarly when they share management structures and characteristics. Decentralization has consequences for governance and fund investors. First, it weakens the monitoring effectiveness of institutional investors-a result we corroborate using Vanguard's 2019 adoption of decentralized voting as a quasi-natural experiment. Second, funds that deviate from their family's voting stance charge higher fees without delivering higher returns for clients. Yet, funds that deviate attract higher inflows. >more

FINANCING THE AI BUILDOUT
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh
2026
AI demand has altered the physical economics of data centers, raising power and cooling intensity and favoring purpose-built campuses, and triggered an infrastructure-scale investment wave. Because these assets are expensive, specialized, and rapidly evolving, funding is shifting from on-balance-sheet corporate finance toward leases, project finance, securitization, private credit, and SPV structures. This financial architecture expands debt capacity but transforms rather than eliminates risk, concentrating exposures through tenant dependence, technology obsolescence, power and compute constraints, opacity, and circular credit linkages. >more