Month: October 2026

Cluster Yachting Monaco gathered around 100 industry professionals at the Yacht Club de Monaco on Thursday 8th October for its seasonal Winter Pop-Up, examining global market shifts, local economic data, and the evolving place of sailing superyachts in a rapidly changing sector.

Opening the event alongside a YCM Marina Open Day featuring nine vessels, Bernard d’Alessandri, Director and General Secretary of the YCM, welcomed the strong presence of younger industry figures, framing generational renewal as essential to the sector’s future.

Geopolitical realities and shifting geographic focus

A panel led by Rachel Fisher of JMS Yachting opened the morning assessing current market pressures, including international sanctions, tariff adjustments, compliance burdens, and inflation. Omer Malaz, founder of Numarine, highlighted emerging interest in the Red Sea across Saudi Arabia and Egypt, whilst emphasising that Europe and the US remain primary markets. Addressing Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure investments, Maxwell Andrews, Executive Advisor at Monaco House Saudi Arabia, explained that developing a functional regional ecosystem remains a 10 to 15-year project.

“Monaco holds a crucial advantage by concentrating much of this industry know-how and serving as a point of convergence for expertise, experience, and investment,” Andrews said.

Manufacturing geographies are also shifting. As Turkish shipyards improve their quality, the price gap with European yards is closing. “In the near future, shipbuilding will move to the East,” Malaz said, citing Turkey, Dubai, and Poland as key emerging hubs for future construction.

Economic impact: Monaco’s yachting sector outpaces broader economy

Official 2025 figures presented by Pascal Ferry and Benjamin Cauquil from IMSEE revealed substantial growth across the Principality’s maritime economy. Monaco’s yachting sector generated €659.7 million in turnover (excluding financial and insurance activities), marking a 16.3% increase compared to 2022 and significantly outperforming the broader national economy. The sector now encompasses 475 local establishments and accounts for 1,495 direct jobs. Wholesale trade led overall performance at €361 million in turnover, while professional, scientific, and technical services expanded by more than 30% in operating businesses over three years.

The dilemma facing sailing superyachts

Moderated by Carlo Torre, Managing Director of MYT, the final discussion addressed why sailing superyachts remain a small minority compared to motor vessels. German Frers Jr (Frers Naval Architecture), Burak Akgül (Turquoise Yachts), and Captain Pascal Berger of the SEA Index-certified S/Y Atmosphere identified escalating costs, particularly advanced rigging systems, as a primary barrier.

Evolving owner preferences have also driven design changes, with demand shifting toward volume, stability, and direct sea access. “The owner of S/Y Atmosphere lives onboard for at least five months a year and would like to stay onboard all year round,” said Captain Berger, reflecting how level-deck comfort has become a decisive factor.

Despite technical and financial hurdles, the emotional appeal remains strong. “It’s a matter of sensation, pleasure, and adrenaline, a shared journey that deeply involves crew, guests, and family alike, creating a voyage you do not forget,” said naval architect German Frers Jr.  

Closing the panel, Burak Akgül highlighted the lasting demand for custom historic replicas, saying: “It must be sustainable because it is extraordinary.”

Looking ahead

Founded in 2014, Cluster Yachting Monaco now represents nearly 100 member companies across the Principality’s maritime industry. The organisation will hold its next General Assembly on Wednesday 9th December.

See also: 

Monaco’s €660 million yachting boom outpaces wider economy

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Photo Credit: Cluster Yachting Monaco

Monaco was one of just eight countries to sign a new Council of Europe treaty in Strasbourg on Wednesday that will make it easier to trace, freeze and confiscate the proceeds of crime, including crypto-assets, as the Principality works to strengthen its credentials in the fight against financial crime.

Monaco signed alongside Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Montenegro, San Marino and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union, making it one of the first of the Council of Europe’s 46 member states to back the agreement. The treaty was opened for signature on 14th October during the Council of Europe’s annual Octopus conference on cybercrime.

Closing in on criminal money

The treaty is an Additional Protocol to the 2005 Warsaw Convention, the Council of Europe’s main instrument against money laundering and terrorist financing. It is designed to modernise asset recovery in the face of criminal networks that are increasingly sophisticated, transnational and technologically advanced.

Under the new rules, courts will be able to confiscate property linked to wider criminal conduct, in some cases without a criminal conviction, and target assets held by third parties, while protecting those who acquired them in good faith. Authorities will also be able to freeze or seize assets urgently, without prior notice, before they can be moved or hidden.

Signatory states will be required to set up dedicated offices to trace and manage criminal assets, respond to requests from their counterparts within set deadlines, including within three days in urgent cases, and give financial intelligence units better access to financial and virtual-asset data.

“Criminal money sustains organised crime. It also buys what should never be for sale: our democracies. Taking that money away is democratic security,” said Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset. “No state can recover criminal assets across borders on its own. With this protocol, none will have to.”

Where the money goes

Confiscated assets will be returned first to victims or their rightful owners. Sums above €10,000 will, as a rule, be shared equally between the countries involved in recovering them, and states are encouraged to put confiscated assets to social or public use.

The protocol will enter into force once it has been ratified by five states, at least three of them Council of Europe members.

A theme of Monaco’s presidency

For Monaco, the signature carries particular weight. The Principality has held the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers since May, a term that runs until November, and has placed the fight against financial crime at the centre of it.

In June, Monaco’s presidency led a declaration adopted by justice ministers from all 46 member states committing them to strengthen the identification, freezing and recovery of criminal proceeds, including crypto-assets. At the time, Monaco’s Secretary of State for Justice, Samuel Vuelta Simon, described the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing as “a long-term political commitment”.

The signature also comes as Monaco works to leave the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-money laundering watchdog, which placed the Principality under increased monitoring in June 2024. In June this year, the FATF concluded that Monaco had substantially completed the action plan agreed at that time, clearing the way for an on-site visit by assessors, one of the final steps before removal.

The Additional Protocol was adopted by the foreign ministers of the Council of Europe’s 46 member states at their annual session in Chișinău on 15th May 2026.

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The Monaco Chamber of Commerce, formerly known as the Monaco Economic Board, hosted its first official event under its new identity on Friday 9th October at the Novotel Monte-Carlo. Organised with the Embassy of Monaco in Germany, the forum welcomed a 20-company delegation from the German business association BWA.

The gathering coincided with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, highlighted by Lorenzo Ravano, Monaco’s Ambassador to Germany, Austria, and Poland.

Inside Germany’s evolving economy

Led by Urs Unkauf, Plenipotentiary Extraordinary for Global External Affairs, the BWA delegation introduced its privately funded network of entrepreneurs. Unkauf outlined key growth areas in Germany, including defence, technology, artificial intelligence, and healthcare.

He also acknowledged the pressing structural challenges facing German industry, specifically rising energy and labour costs, and pointed to an ongoing generational shift in family-owned businesses that is driving new international strategies.

Entrepreneurial inspiration and direct trade ties

Monaco-based entrepreneur Sasha Kunkel, founder of Algiz Security Group, provided a standout case study. A former French Foreign Legionnaire who established his firm in Monaco in 2007, Kunkel now operates across more than 80 countries, demonstrating the global reach possible from the Principality. 

The event concluded with structured B2B meetings and a networking lunch involving over 80 participants, establishing direct commercial connections between Monegasque firms and Europe’s largest economy.

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Photo Credit: Sébastien Darrasse / Chambre de Commerce de Monaco

A large commercial premises measuring approximately 1,273 square metres has been made available for lease in Cap d’Ail, with Monaco’s property authorities particularly interested in attracting businesses offering sports, family entertainment or immersive leisure experiences.

The Société Domaniale d’Exploitation has launched a call for expressions of interest for the ground-floor premises within the ZAC Saint Antoine development on Avenue Marquet, close to the Monaco border.

The substantial commercial space is open to a wide range of potential uses, including offices, provided the proposed activity is compatible with the building’s configuration, its surroundings and applicable regulations.

However, the authorities have made clear that preference will be given to commercial leisure activities, particularly those centred on sport, family entertainment or immersive experiences.

Food-related businesses, including restaurants and other food retail operations, are expressly excluded from the tender.

Interested businesses and operators must submit a completed application dossier before 12pm on Friday 11th December.

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Photo source: Government of Monaco