From 19 to 21 June 2017, Luxembourg's Finance Minister, Pierre Gramegna, traveled to California for a mission dedicated to Fintech, accompanied by Nicolas Mackel, CEO of Luxembourg for Finance (LFF), and Nasir Zubairi, CEO of the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT).  

The objective of this mission was to take stock of the latest advances and developments in Fintech and to promote Luxembourg as a European reference hub in this field. The Minister also took the opportunity to meet with decision-makers from a number of fund managers to exchange views on the consequences of Brexit and investment opportunities in Luxembourg.

Over the course of the three days, Pierre Gramegna met with payment service providers to discuss the potential for the development of the corresponding technologies, as well as their plans for the European market. In this regard, he had a meeting with PingPong officials. Following the minister's meeting in October 2016 with the group's management in China, Pingpong recently established its European hub in Luxembourg at the beginning of the year. The present meeting provided an opportunity to take stock of its development in Europe and its plans for the future. Pierre Gramegna also had a meeting with the management of Ripple, one of the world leaders in the field of virtual currency and international electronic payments. This company is already present in Luxembourg and the meeting allowed them to discuss the implementation of its European strategy, as well as its research and development projects.  

Minister Gramegna also visited venture capital fund managers, including 500Startups, to discuss trends in the market, their investment strategy, and the role Luxembourg could play in this context. Similarly, the minister visited incubators in Silicon Valley, including the BNP Paribas "Workshop" and the Plug and Play Tech Center. These visits made it possible to measure the progress made in Fintech's field since his previous mission to California in April 2016.

On 20 June the Minister participated in the reception organized by the Luxembourg Consulate in San Francisco on the occasion of the Luxembourg national holiday.  

Minister Gramegna commented: "My discussions with key players in Silicon Valley have confirmed that the digital revolution will profoundly change the financial world. To remain competitive in the medium and long term, professionals in the sector must I am pleased to note that Luxembourg is recognised by the start-ups of the Valley as a leading financial centre and European hub of Fintech. This mission has been the occasion to create and even deepen relations with a whole range of innovative companies, some of which are already present in Luxembourg and others are planning to settle. The LHoFT is of great interest and the present mission has made it possible to establish links with a number of Potential partners."  

Photo by the Ministry of Finance