Minister Roth Visits London on Financial Mission to Strengthen Ties with UK

Luxembourg's Minister of Finance, Gilles Roth, travelled to London in the United Kingdom from Wednesday 20 to Friday 22 March 2024, as part of a financial mission to further strengthen ties with the United Kingdom.

Luxembourg's Ministry of Finance reported that the visit included a bilateral meeting with Bim Afolami, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and Minister in charge of London's financial centre. This meeting focused on strengthening bilateral cooperation and the respective priorities of the two countries in the field of financial services.

In this context, Minister Roth emphasised that "our financial centres are among the most international in the world, while being highly complementary. For decades, Luxembourg has been acting as a hub for fund distribution and asset management for British fund managers. What's more, as major financial centres, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom are ideally positioned to help mobilise private capital for the green transition. This is one of the areas in which we want to strengthen our cooperation."

Whilst in the UK, the minister took the opportunity to meet senior executives from the UK's financial sector. According to the ministry, the various players emphasised that Luxembourg plays a key role in their European strategy and that they will continue to develop and expand their activities in the Grand Duchy.

Minister Roth reiterated: "Developing our financial centre and our innovation ecosystem is a priority for this government. It is therefore crucial to ensure a propitious environment for the financial sector to innovate and seize new opportunities, including in the area of hedge funds and digital assets."

The minister also had an exchange with the City of London Corporation and representatives of financial institutions in London on the challenges facing the financial sector in the UK and the EU in the current macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, as well as the main trends and opportunities in financial services.

Moreover, Minister Roth attended an event organised by Luxembourg for Finance (LFF), bringing together professionals from the financial sector. He stated: "The United Kingdom and Luxembourg are among the most internationalised economies in the world and home to leading financial centres. Luxembourg recognises the need to have open and interconnected financial markets on a global level in order to provide the best services to our companies and our citizens."