A few weeks after Luxembourg's oldest bank agreed a takeover by a Chinese firm, bankers from the two countries are also cozying up.
Yves Maas, chairman of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL) and Runzhong Huang, secretary general representing the China Banking Association (CBA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two banking associations.
The agreement aims at establishing a regular communication and information sharing between the two banking associations as well as at jointly organising professional events. ABBL and CBA will exchange on all aspects of the banking industry, including but not limited to the latest development of regularly frameworks and sound practices for investor protection.
The First Move
Earlier this month China's Legend Holdings (Legend) acquired a 90 percent stake in Banque Internationale a Luxembourg (BIL) for 1.48 billion euros making it the biggest takeover of a European deposit-taking bank by a Chinese firm to date.
The company acquired its stake in BIL from Precision Capital, an investment vehicle operated by members of Qatar's royal family, including former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani.
Bank of Singapore
«The very first Chinese branch set up outside China more then 35 years ago was the Bank of China Luxembourg Branch. Since, six more Chinese banks have chosen Luxembourg as their European Hub,» said Maas.
finews.asia recently reported that OCBC's private banking arm, Bank of Singapore, which runs its European business from London, is understood to be eyeing a presence in Luxembourg, which would allow it to continue selling its services across the European Union (EU) following Britain's vote to break away from the grouping.
