On Thursday 22 October 2026, the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL) issued a report following its Retail Banking Cluster Press Conference.

The report detailed the ABBL’s opinions on access to banking services, fraud protections, the evolution of banking services and Luxembourg’s housing market, following the conference on Thursday 22 October. 

Housing, access to bank accounts and fraud: three everyday challenges facing retail banks

The ABBL questioned how access to banking services be made easier, the housing market recovery supported and citizens better protected against fraud? 

These three challenges were at the heart of the annual press conference of the Retail Banking Cluster of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL). As customer habits evolve and economic and regulatory constraints intensify, retail banks are adapting their services and proposing a range of concrete measures. To deliver their full benefits, however, these initiatives also require the involvement of public authorities, businesses and other economic stakeholders.

“Retail banks play an essential role in the everyday lives of citizens and businesses. Our responsibility is to give them access to the services they need, finance their projects on sustainable terms and protect their transactions. This requires us to continuously adapt our practices, but also to work with all relevant stakeholders,” said Laurent Zahles, Chairman of the ABBL Retail Banking Cluster.

Banking services are changing, but access must be preserved

The ABBL highlighted that the way banking services are used continues to change in Luxembourg. In 2025, 97% of credit transfers were initiated electronically, compared with 86% in 2019. This shift is accompanied by a gradual reorganisation of physical networks: some branches are now specialising in higher-value advisory services, while the development of the shared Bancomat ATM network aims to provide better coverage across the country.

The challenge the association said is to reconcile these changes in services with the needs of all customers. Banks are therefore continuing their efforts to improve the accessibility of their services, notably through the substantial work involved in implementing the requirements of the European directive on the accessibility of products and services, in cooperation with the Office de la Surveillance de l’Accessibilité des Produits et Services (OSAPS).

Access to bank accounts also remains a significant concern. The ABBL’s annual survey, conducted among ten financial institutions, recorded more than 51,000 personal account openings in 2025.

For legal entities, the institutions participating in the survey reported 7,633 business account openings in 2025, an increase of 6.6%.

The ABBL nevertheless recognises that some project promoters encounter difficulties when seeking to open an account. There can be various reasons: insufficient information or documentation to understand the proposed activity and financial flows, complex ownership structures, exposure to certain geographical or sanctions-related risks, or business models requiring specialist expertise. In other cases, the applicant’s activity or needs do not match the business model of the institution approached. These situations do not necessarily mean that the project is suspicious, but they can complicate or prolong the process.

To make this process easier, the ABBL has established a Business Support Desk, a free and confidential service for legal entities experiencing difficulties in establishing a banking relationship. It helps applicants better understand the obstacles they face, provides information on the steps to take and the documents generally required, and, where useful, facilitates dialogue with the institution concerned. The ABBL acts as a facilitator without taking the place of banks in their decision-making.

This service forms part of a broader set of initiatives designed to make the opening of business accounts clearer and more predictable: publication of a practical guide developed with the Chamber of Commerce and the House of Entrepreneurship; work with the CSSF to clarify minimum documentation requirements; information on institutions offering services to legal entities; training activities; and regular exchanges with banks and stakeholders. The aim is to simplify the process while respecting the regulatory obligations to which institutions are subject.

Mortgage lending remains available, but new housing is struggling to recover

Following the interest-rate shock, the ABBL noted that Luxembourg’s property market is showing signs of stabilisation, although the recovery remains uneven.

Variable rates on new mortgage loans, which had reached 5.02% in December 2023, stood at 3.19% in August 2026. New mortgage contracts amounted to €6.70 billion in 2025, up 11.9% on 2024. Over the first eight months of 2026, however, their volume was still 8.3% below that recorded over the same period in 2025. These statistics from the Central Bank of Luxembourg include renegotiations of existing loans.

Above all, different segments of the market are moving at very different speeds. Transactions involving existing apartments have returned to a level close to their pre-crisis average. By contrast, sales of properties off-plan (vente en état futur d’achèvement, VEFA) remain particularly weak: 225 transactions in the second quarter of 2026, approximately 68% below the average for second quarters between 2017 and 2021.

For the ABBL this contrast is revealing: existing homes and off-plan properties are financed in the same banking environment and subject to the same general interest-rate and lending conditions. Yet buyers are returning to the existing-property market while remaining much more reluctant to commit to new construction. The availability of credit therefore does not, on its own, explain the difficulties affecting VEFA. A lack of buyer confidence, particularly given the risks of delays, developer failure or non-completion, is now a major obstacle to recovery in this segment.

Banks continue to finance households and viable projects. They must nevertheless assess borrowers’ repayment capacity and safeguard the deposits entrusted to them. Supporting the property market cannot therefore mean an indiscriminate relaxation of lending criteria.

The ABBL proposes action on three complementary fronts:

- Facilitate financing for viable projects. For buy-to-let investment, the ABBL advocates greater recognition of collateral alternatives to a cash down payment, as well as the reinstatement of the temporary relaxation allowing a limited share of buy-to-let loans to reach a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 95%.

For non-first-time buyers financing their main residence, it proposes temporarily increasing from 15% to 20% the share of loans permitted to have an LTV ratio between 90% and 100%. These adjustments would remain subject to the prudential requirements in force.

- Restore confidence in off-plan purchases (VEFA). Difficulties encountered by certain projects have highlighted uncertainties surrounding completion guarantees and the responsibilities of the various parties involved. For buyers, the prospect of being left with an unfinished home is a major deterrent. The ABBL therefore calls for the roles and information obligations of all stakeholders to be clarified. When a project runs into difficulties, priority should be given to completing the homes wherever this remains materially and legally possible, with reimbursement as a last resort. The association also calls for a level playing field among providers of VEFA guarantees, with consistent requirements for risk coverage and financial soundness.

- Improve the viability of property investments. This includes better recognition of energy renovation work in collateral valuations and a framework that preserves the attractiveness of buy-to-let investment.

“Financing is essential to a housing market recovery, but it is only one part of the equation. A loan alone cannot make a project viable if its costs are too high or its legal framework remains uncertain. We need to act simultaneously on financing, the economic viability of projects and buyer confidence,” explained Claude Hirtzig, Vice-Chairman of the ABBL Retail Banking Cluster.

The outlook for the property market calls for both optimism and caution. The support measures announced by the government, notably for home ownership and public purchases of off-plan housing, may help improve the conditions for recovery. Initiatives by property developers to strengthen transparency and confidence are also steps in the right direction.

The ABBL stressed that the financial environment still remains challenging. Interest-rate developments depend in particular on the European Central Bank’s monetary policy decisions, which are themselves guided by the inflation outlook and economic conditions. Although rates have fallen substantially from their 2023 peak, a return to near-zero rates is not on the agenda and further increases cannot be ruled out. Against this backdrop, recovery will depend on the collective ability to turn announced measures and ongoing initiatives into projects that are economically viable, legally secure and genuinely financeable.

In the face of fraud, protecting payments is no longer enough

The ABBL highlighted that the digital transformation of financial services is accompanied by increasingly sophisticated fraud. Artificial intelligence, in particular, enables fraudsters to make their attempts at manipulation ever more convincing, whether through fake messages, identity impersonation or fraudulent calls. These techniques can lead victims to authorise transactions themselves for the benefit of criminals.

Such fraud often begins long before a payment is made: on a digital platform, through a misleading advertisement or during a telephone call. Although banks have an essential responsibility to secure transactions, their action alone cannot be sufficient.

Institutions are strengthening their prevention and detection measures. The introduction of verification of the payee for credit transfers represents another step forward in reducing certain risks of error and fraud.

At the same time, the ABBL and the Fondation ABBL pour l’Education Financière are joining forces with the Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity and other partners for the second edition of the national cyberfraud.lu campaign. It aims to raise public awareness of the most common fraud scenarios and, through a new victim-support pathway, better guide those affected towards the steps they should take.

“Fraudsters now exploit an entire chain of services and communication channels to reach their victims. Banks must of course strengthen their protective measures, but they cannot act alone. By also mobilising telecom operators, digital platforms and public authorities, we can intervene earlier, prevent fraud more effectively and support victims,” said Arnaud Clément, Head of Payments & Innovation at the ABBL.

Future European payment-services legislation, through the proposed PSD3 and PSR, should also strengthen prevention and cooperation between stakeholders while clarifying certain rules on liability and the reimbursement of victims. The final provisions nevertheless remain subject to completion of the legislative process.

Collective responses to challenges that extend beyond banks

The ABBL noted that access to bank accounts, housing finance and the fight against fraud have one thing in common: banks have important levers at their disposal, but they do not alone control all the factors that determine outcomes.

Making it easier to open an account means balancing simpler procedures with regulatory obligations. Reviving construction requires a favourable economic, financial and legal environment. Preventing fraud means intervening at the earliest stages of scams, which often take place outside banking channels.

Through its Retail Banking Cluster, the ABBL said it intends to continue this work with its members, public authorities and other relevant stakeholders. The aim is to turn the sector’s proposals into tangible improvements for households and legal entities.