Luxembourg and Bahrain, a Partnership for Financial Services

The Luxembourg financial centre and the financial centres of the GCC region are complementary and can benefit considerably from each other. This is the message of a financial delegation lead by Prince Guillaume, Crown Prince of Luxembourg, and H.E. Mr Luc Frieden, Minister of Finance of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, who will be visiting the Middle East in the middle of January. During a financial seminar organised by Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the development of the financial centre, with the support of the Central Bank of Bahrain and the Bahrain Association of Banks on Monday 11 at the Ritz Carlton Manama, experts from Luxembourg and Manama discussed both financial centre’s up to date range of products and services and identified areas for collaboration to the benefit of their clients.

Luxembourg is by far Europe’s largest domicile and cross-border distribution hub for investment funds and the leading wealth management centre in the euro zone. It is therefore not surprising that the main topics addressed during the financial seminar are wealth management solutions “made in Luxembourg” and the country’s competence in the collective investment area. Bahrain is the largest center for funds in the GCC region.

Given Luxembourg’s limited local market – the Grand-Duchy has a population of less than half a million – Luxembourg financial products and services are designed for an international clientele. Currently, most clients of the financial centre stem from Europe. In order to increase diversification of the client base, Luxembourg for Finance is striving to develop the existing good contacts with GCC countries and has declared the Middle East to be a strategic target region.

Located in the heart of Europe, Luxembourg offers a high degree of political and social stability and, thus, a reliable legal and fiscal framework and privileged access to the capital markets and payment systems in euro. Notwithstanding, the legislator is able to act very fast to adapt regulation to an evolving international environment and provide the legal basis for new business opportunities, while maintaining a well regulated onshore environment.

International investors, including Sovereign Wealth Funds from the MENA region, rely on Luxembourg expertise to structure their worldwide investments, namely in the area of real estate and private equity. Local know how in setting up, administering and distributing investment funds has led the Bank of London and the Middle East (BLME) to launch a shariah compliant dollar income fund from Luxembourg. 

Fernand Grulms, CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, is convinced that you can only succeed in the complex world of finance if you build partnerships with foreign financial centres. As far as Luxembourg and Bahrain are concerned, he sees huge potential for bilateral business.

Luxembourg for Finance, January 2010

Contact: Fernand Grulms, CEO, Luxembourg for Finance

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