Why companies keep looking at LU as a longterm solution
Those who think that Luxembourg’s heyday rose and fell with steel or hinges on banking are long overdue for a visit. What they will find is a modern business hub whose diverse areas of expansion illustrate another narrative — one in which the future is omnipresent.
Even the banking sector that carried the Grand Duchy through the end of the twentieth century has fully embraced the national status as modern business hub. Financial institutions regularly engage in open innovation with startups (modernizing their services without setting up in-house branches), a once daring move that has morphed into a common practice.
Client services, even those provided by the large, international monoliths, have become fresh and user friendly thanks to new services and applications facilitated by data and security technology. Financial investments themselves reflect a tilt toward tomorrow as the country pioneers in the realm of sustainable investments.
Its platform of green and sustainable products, as well as history of micro-financing, means that it’s ahead of the curve as the world begins to recognize the importance of a sustainable global economy. At 39 percent, this modern business hub leads in European market share of responsible investment funds. Luxembourg actively harnesses its position as a financial hub to help achieve EU’s 2020 Agenda.
And this is just the financial sector! Its long-established logistics sector similarly embraces tomorrow’s potential as it leverages new technologies and new processes. Not to mention its ICT activities, which compel more and more tech leaders to move to Luxembourg and take advantage of its USPs in connectivity, data and high-tech breakthroughs (think AI, blockchain, etc.). With a tech and business friendly regulatory environment and the startup ecosystem’s exciting explosion, Luxembourg’s position as a leading EU economic hub will continue well into the future.
For the entrepreneurs, business people and startups based in Luxembourg, these strengths might be old news. But for many new companies and those in flux, the Grand Duchy landed on their radar recently. After all, nothing has triggered “flux” quite like the Brexit era.
A Modern Business Hub for Today & Tomorrow
With each passing week, a no-deal scenario becomes less hazy in the imaginations of shareholders and more plausible. In our spring Brexit series, we followed the twists and turns of a narrative that still continues. While the official conclusion is set for Halloween, followers of the saga know there are no guarantees.
Perhaps it is that lack of certainty that is driving companies to proactively make a change rather than wait. Enter Luxembourg. With the scene ripe to support innovation today and tomorrow — for all the reasons mentioned above — businesses are turning to the Grand Duchy as an optimal, secure decision for their longterm future.
Insurance companies and asset managers were some of the first to step over the line and commit to a move from London to Luxembourg. As October 31 moves closer without a deal taking shape, further organizations, fed up with uncertainty, could follow suit.
Opposition MPs plan to push for a bill to block a no-deal Brexit. On the other side of the Channel, EU lawmakers seem to have softened their stance against Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Originally, they claimed that the backstop was final, but German and French leaders have both iterated that they would listen to other ideas. Needless to say, no outcome is guaranteed.
Whatever the economic realities of the time, Luxembourg has always and plans to maintain its position as an optimal option for European businesses.
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