Luxembourg delegation reaffirms strong ties with UAE

A financial delegation headed by HRH Prince Guillaume, Crown Prince of Luxembourg, accompanied by HRH Crown Princess Stéphanie, and led by HE Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg Minister of Finance, is in Dubai today to promote closer collaboration between Luxembourg and the UAE in financial services.

The delegation, composed of senior representatives from the Luxembourg financial services sector, takes part in a seminar organized by Luxembourg for Finance in cooperation with the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) at The Ritz-Carlton hotel under the theme ‘Dubai and Luxembourg: Partnering to Bring you Global Opportunities’. The seminar, held for leading figures from Dubai’s financial services industry, will focus on Luxembourg as a diversified financial centre for private and institutional investors from the Middle East, as well as a leading Islamic finance centre in Europe. An additional focus of the seminar will be the FinTech revolution, by which technology is rapidly changing the face of financial services.

The financial mission comes after a successful visit by the Minister of Finance to the UAE in October last year, during which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Islamic Finance and Banking was signed by the Minister of Finance for Luxembourg and his counterpart in the UAE, HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer.

Commenting on the delegation’s visit, HE Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg Minister of Finance, said: “I am delighted to be back in the UAE to further our commitment to strengthening the links between our countries. Through our regular visits, we can increase the business opportunities for all parties both in conventional finance and Islamic finance, while exchanging experiences about the latest technological developments in the financial services industry.”

As one of the world’s leading financial centres, Luxembourg offers a wide range of services including wealth management, fund distribution, corporate finance, insurance, securities listing, post-trading services and many others. For three decades, the country has developed its Islamic finance credentials and is today the largest domicile for Islamic funds in Europe, and third worldwide, after Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. More than 100 Islamic investment funds have been created in the Luxembourg financial centre. In addition, the Luxembourg regulatory framework supports a range of shariah compliant structures and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange is a recognized listing centre for international sukuk issues. The Luxembourg government is fully committed to the development of Islamic finance in Europe, a commitment that it underlined by issuing the first sovereign sukuk denominated in euro in 2014.

In recent years, Luxembourg has also been very successful in developing a dynamic Fintech sector. The combination of a leading international financial centre and a state-of-the-art IT infrastructure, have made Luxembourg an attractive choice for Fintech companies.

HE Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg Minister of Finance continued: “Like the UAE, Luxembourg is viewed as a global centre of innovation. Technology is a key driver of change in the financial services industry and our aim is to ensure that Luxembourg is best placed to cater for the needs of this fast-changing landscape. Through this seminar we want to share our knowledge and generate an exchange of views for the benefit of financial services professionals in both our countries.”