Louis Lamotte – Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of JTC Global AIFM Solutions S.A.
Louis has almost 20 years’ experience in financial services. Over the course of his career, he has built up specialist expertise; working for reputable banks, the Big 4 and AIFMs in Luxembourg.
Louis is responsible for the development and the day-to-day management of JTC’s AIFM business in Luxembourg. He also looks after the management of legal, tax, compliance, monitoring and analytical functions involved with regulatory compliance, anti-fraud and anti-money laundering.
Louis is also a board member of various investment funds in Luxembourg.
What are the fund services offered by JTC?
JTC has a highly qualified and multilingual workforce worldwide. We provide a global service to our clients via our network of 32 local offices across 21 jurisdictions. This global reach facilitates strong collaboration between our offices, allowing us to manage and provide the best service possible to our global clients.
JTC’s Luxembourg office, which opened in 2009, acts as one of our main European centres for fund and corporate services. We offer fund administration, corporate administration, third party AIFM, depositary and transfer agent services for clients across the continent and worldwide.
We can provide a tailored suite of fund services, including stand-alone solutions to meet all fund managers’ needs.
Our Luxembourg teams are multilingual with vast experience and a good understanding of corporate and fund structuring and regulation within Europe, enabling us to effectively service the European private equity, real estate and hedge fund community.
How do you maintain relationships with the delegated portfolio managers, or investment advisors of funds under JTC’s management?
Portfolio managers and investment advisors are usually the initiator of the funds. They are our core focus. We listen to their needs, help identify their pain points and work closely with them to help solve them. Our relationship with them can be described as collaborative and we provide solutions to their problems, whilst aligning our processes in accordance with local regulations. The key objective is to act efficiently, in order to meet everyone’s expectations and act in the best interest of the investors.
Exchanges with portfolio managers and investment advisors are scheduled regularly, due to the management of activities and the services that we provide to investment funds. We are also available to promptly answer all requests and questions that they might have over the lifecycle of the funds.
In a dynamic regulatory environment, it is imperative that we work closely with the portfolio managers and investment advisers, to better anticipate and service their needs.
As a fund director, what is your approach on high level oversight and management of the Fund?
The role of the fund director has become more and more demanding in recent years. The local authorities impose increasingly strict rules on the board of the funds, in order to guarantee a high level of governance and to preserve the interest of the investors.
When I acquire a mandate on the board of a fund, I strive to provide the board with my financial, legal, regulatory and operational knowledge, to ensure good governance and compliance of the fund with local and European rules, as well as with JTC processes. I provide solutions to the problems and issues raised during the life of the fund. I encourage the board members to discuss certain topics, such as compliance, AML, and support the board to document discussions during the board meeting, for the purpose of providing more transparency on the decisions taken.
Being a fund director and maintaining a close relationship with our clients helps in the monitoring of our AIFM duties.
What are your thoughts on the current state of the private equity industry and its future outlook?
2022 brought market upheavals and geographical instability. The turbulence continues in 2023 and optimism remains cautious.
Despite this uncertainty, high inflation, high interest rates and market volatility, some sectors are seizing opportunities to invest in low carbon economies and emerging markets.
Over the last 12 months, fund raising activities have been more difficult than in the past, as investors are more conservative and therefore more selective in what they choose to invest in. We expect this trend to continue in the next 12 months. However, we also note that among our asset classes under management, the private equity asset class is still the most attractive, as it has historically demonstrated a higher return on investment compared to other asset classes, during periods of instability.
