Too small to be of interest, too large to grasp? Histories of the Luxembourg financial centre

Abstract

Over the last 10 years, public perception of the functioning of international capitalism has fundamentally changed. Revelations such as the Offshore Leaks (2013), LuxLeaks (2014), Swiss Leaks (2015) or the Panama Papers (2016), each communicated by a European alliance of media outlets, have highlighted the importance of relatively CONTACT Benoît Majerus

Hierarchical tendencies, functional specializations, and (in)stability across European banking centers

“…Building on these insights, scholars discussed post-Brexit dynamics and scenarios for London's banking and financial center thereby addressing aspects of financial specialization and decreasing critical mass of financial functions (Dörry and Dymski, 2021;Heneghan and Hall, 2021;Lavery et al, 2018). However, there has been much less research on such specialized roles of European cities (for Luxembourg, see Dörry, 2016b;Majerus and Zenner, 2020;Walther et al, 2011; for Polish financial centers, see (Blažek et al, 2020), crossborder investment banking fees between 2000 and 2014 (Wójcik et al, 2018), and the 2019 GFCI banking subindex (Z/Yen, 2020). and Wójcik, 2021), a gap our analyses seek to help fill.…”

Luxembourg and Ireland in global financial networks: Analysing the changing structure of European investment funds

“…Luxembourg's pioneering role in European economic integration has deep roots, including an economic union and common currency with Belgium dating back to the 1920s. The country has a long history of attracting international business through regulation and taxation, including the 1929 Holding Company Regime, and plentiful treaties to avoid double taxation, facilitated by its OECD membership (Majerus & Zenner, 2020 ). In the post‐Second World War decades, Luxembourg established itself as a centre of private wealth management (led by KBL bank), Eurobond issuance and listing, as well as infrastructure for clearing and settlement of cross‐border financial transactions.…”

“…The paper offers contributions that go beyond understanding IFs and asset management themselves. By focusing on Luxembourg and Ireland, we add to the surprisingly small body of literature on the position of these countries in international finance (Dörry, 2016 ; Majerus & Zenner, 2020 ), as well as to rare comparative studies of financial centres (Engelen & Grote, 2009 ; Faulconbridge, 2004 ; Sassen, 2001 ). We show that the growing importance of Luxembourg and Ireland in the IF industry is driven by European financial integration, which in turn is led by US banks and asset management firms rather than European firms.…”