Research-Thesis: To what extent does the UCITS regulatory framework contribute to Luxembourg's international competitiveness as a cross-border fund hub?

Abstract

This thesis aims to understand how the UCITS regulatory framework contributes to Luxembourg’s international competitiveness as a cross-border fund hub. More specifically, it examines whether UCITS acts mainly as a regulatory framework, a distribution passport, a quality label, or a source of investor trust. The objective is also to analyse how this framework interacts with other factors that support Luxembourg’s attractiveness, such as the local fund ecosystem, the role of the CSSF, institutional promotion, legal certainty, cross-border expertise and the presence of specialised service providers. The thesis further explores the tensions linked to UCITS, especially between investor protection and regulatory costs, between European harmonisation and national supervisory flexibility, and between Luxembourg’s established competitive position and current challenges such as ETFs, tokenisation, market integration and the European simplification agenda.