2008 ANNUAL REPORT ANNUAL REPORT ANNUAL REPORT 2008 110, route d’Arlon L-2991 LUXEMBOURG CSSF ANNUAL REPORT 2008 Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier 110, route d’Arlon L-2991 LUXEMBOURG Tel.: (+352) 26 251-1 Fax: (+352) 26 251-601 E-mail:
[email protected] Website: http://www.cssf.lu Cut-off date: 1 March 2009. The reproduction of the annual report is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged. Design: metaph Printed by: Imprimerie Centrale PREFACE We live in times where everything moves at high speed and changes can be unpredictable and sudden. Whereas the 2007 results for the financial sector were entirely satisfying, the situation deteriorated considerably in 2008 following the turmoil in the financial markets. In the preface to the Annual Report of 2006, I advised that one should not “indulge in naive over-confidence”, given the exceptional results in the Luxembourg financial sector. Two years later, the crisis has rattled our financial sector which, given its international dimension, certainly suffered from the setbacks of other financial markets, but it was not shaken in its foundations. We therefore need to equip ourselves with patience and give ourselves the tools to prepare for the aftermath of the crisis. In 2008, several banks in the financial centre were suddenly confronted with problems due to inappropriate decisions which had been taken by their parent company or provoked by the total collapse of the economy in their home country. As for investment funds, they suffered from the catastrophic situation reigning in the markets generally and several funds were victims, in particular, of a financial swindle of enormous dimensions originating from the United States.