Rafik Fischer

Rafik Fischer died unexpectedly on 9 November 2026 in Luxembourg, aged 66. His death notice was published on the Luxembourg obituary site inpeace.lu, and RTL reported the news on 12 November 2026, calling him a leading figure in Luxembourg finance. No cause of death was made public.

Rafik Fischer was born in Luxembourg on 27 April 1960 and held Luxembourg nationality. He studied law at the University of Liege in Belgium, where he earned an LL.M., and went on to the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, one of Europe's oldest schools for diplomats and international professionals. The academy later counted him among the inaugural members of its alumni hall of fame. He began his working life in the industrial sector before turning to finance.

Fischer joined Luxembourg's financial sector in 1989 at Kredietrust, where he worked for eight years. In 1997 he moved to KBL European Private Bankers, later renamed Quintet Private Bank, and rose to Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Management Board of Quintet Luxembourg. In 2013 he was director general of KBL's global investor services.

He joined the board of ALFI, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, in 1997 and became its chairman in 1998 at 37, among the youngest to hold the post. He led the association until 2001, served as vice chairman from 2001 to 2007, and later sat on its strategic board, stepping down in 2017 after 20 years without seeking reelection. He also represented Luxembourg in European regulatory working groups on investment management.

Fischer was a director of European Fund Administration (EFA), a leading Luxembourg service provider to investment funds, until 2022, and its chairman from 2007. He was a director of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier from 1998 to 2011, chairman of Rivertree Investment Funds from 2005, chairman of the KBL fund range, and from 2020 a non executive director of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. He was also a visiting professor at HEC Liege and the Liege law faculty, teaching on the investment fund industry.

Fischer was known in the industry for plain speaking. In a 2013 interview with the Letzebuerger Land he warned that the European AIFM directive risked smothering Luxembourg's fund industry with regulation. He described his personal motto as "I say what I think, I do what I say and I live with the consequences of what I do." In retirement he described himself as a non executive corporate director and privatier. He was an Officer of the Order of the Oak Crown and an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Fischer belonged to the generation of Luxembourg bankers who helped turn the Grand Duchy into Europe's leading domicile for cross border investment funds from the 1990s onward. Through ALFI, EFA, the CSSF board and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange he shaped the institutions behind that growth, and his outspoken views on European regulation made him a familiar voice in industry debate for more than two decades.