Luxembourg (Europe)

For the past four decades Luxembourg’s financial sector has been the principal driver of the country’s economy. The government now hopes that by encouraging fintech it will be able to insulate the industry from the challenges of the digital age as well as allaying concerns over the grand duchy’s high economic reliance on financial services.

That effort has taken on greater urgency over the past decade as banking secrecy has eroded and the government has been forced to rethink the business models of the country’s private banks. Reforms that threaten the country’s competitive advantage as a low-tax haven for multinational groups have also focused attention on how best to defend its status as a corporate hub.

Britain’s planned departure from the EU has provided policymakers with an incentive to build a fintech hub in Luxembourg that could attract UK technology companies looking to maintain a foothold in the EU.

Prime minister Xavier Bettel has made the country’s digital transformation a priority since succeeding the long-serving Jean-Claude Juncker in December 2013. Mr Bettel launched the Digital Lëtzebuerg [Luxembourg] initiative the following year as a platform for encouraging new technology in the financial industry as well as society as a whole.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/luxembourg-europe/?&tag=FinTech

http://www.scoop.it/t/luxembourg-europe/?tag=Digital+L%C3%ABtzebuerg