UAE's Dubai, Luxembourg aim to cooperate in financial services

DUBAI, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Luxembourg's Crown Prince Guillaume Tuesday attended the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)between his country and the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC).

Home of 249 regional and international banks, insurers and asset managers, the DIFC has decided to cooperate in the future with Luxembourg in various fields including market access, financial regulations and infrastructure, training, and industry development for firms located in the two jurisdictions, according to the MoU.

Joined at the signing ceremony by a senior finance delegation which is currently visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Crown Prince Guillaume encouraged firms from Dubai to do business in Luxembourg.

"The world's largest satellite operator company, SES Global, is based in Luxembourg and various Internet sales providers like Amazon, Skype and Ebay equally have chosen Luxembourg as their European headquarters," he said in a speech addressing the DIFC Authority, led by DIFC governor Ahemd Humaid Al Tayer.

Al Tayer welcomed the MoU with Luxembourg. "Luxembourg's uniqueness and strategic location in the center of Europe makes it a natural partner for the UAE which itself enjoys a key location in the Middle East," he said.

He also stressed that the UAE, of which Dubai is considered the city of finance, has taken effective measures to tackle the financial crisis.

"Some of the major policy measures taken by the UAE included a guarantee of all deposits by the Central Bank, the setting up of a50-billion-dirham (about 13.6 billion U.S. dollars) emergency liquidity facility, and the deposit of 70 billion dirhams in local banks by the government," he said.

Luxembourg has a tradition as a financial center in Europe and is specialized on the investment funds industry in particular. With lower tax rates than in neighboring France and Germany, it attracts capital as well as residents from both countries, which are member states of the European Union (EU) as Luxembourg is.

The country, which has a total population of only half a million people, is the second largest investment fund center in the world and the Eurozone's premier hub for private banking.

Its 148 banks contribute 38 percent to the country's GDP. Some 3,450 investment funds are registered in the tiny state, overseeing around 2 trillion euros (about 2.9 trillion dollars) under management. However, banks' cumulated balance sheet shrank by 19 percent in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis.

With the MoU with Dubai, they hope to get better access to the Middle East, where private wealth is estimated at around 3 trillion dollars.

Source:xinhuanet.com/

Juncker says U.S. bank fee idea tough to copy in EU

LUXEMBOURG, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. idea of recouping the costs of the financial bailout by taxing banks is the right one, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers said on Friday, but it would be difficult to copy in the European Union.

Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also Luxembourg's prime minister, told a news briefing that the idea would be discussed at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday.

"(President Barack) Obama without a doubt is right to propose these measures. We have to see now in Europe ... whether we proceed in the same way," he said.

"I have no preconceived idea but I would find it difficult to adopt a common approach as tax matters are decided on a national level," he said. "We will exchange views on this Monday evening." Obama on Thursday proposed that Wall Street banks pay up to $117 billion via a levy on assets in order to reimburse taxpayers for the financial bailout, and criticised bankers for their "massive profits and obscene bonuses." [ID:nLDE60E142] (Reporting by Michele Sinner, writing by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Luke Baker)

Source:reuters.com/

Luxembourg funds woo UAE investors

Luxembourg, the second- largest investment fund centre after the US and an important private banking centre in the Europe, is trying to attract fund managers from the UAE to invest in registered funds there, people associated with the matter told Emirates Business.

As a part of the initiatives to attract investments from the UAE into the Luxembourg-registered investment funds, the Crown Prince of Luxembourg Prince Guillaume will visit the UAE on January 12.

Officials at Loyens & Loeff, a law firm that is sponsoring the events associated with the visit, said the prince will be accompanied by Luxembourg's Finance Minister Luc Frieden.

The visit comes close on the heels of a tax treaty becoming effective between the two countries. "The visit comes as a part of the efforts to attract the UAE fund managers and initiators to use Luxembourg -registered investment funds," said Stijn Janssen, Tax Advisor with Loyens & Loeff.

Prince Guillaume will also visit Bahrain.

While Bahrain already has about 600 Luxembourg-registered investment funds, the number is much lesser in the UAE. "We want more Luxembourg-registered funds to be launched in the UAE," Janssen said. He added that 10 Luxembourg-registered funds have been in launched in the country in the past one year.

"Four of these are Shariah-compliant funds," said Valerie Mantot Groene, Attorney at Law with Loyens & Loeff. These funds have been launched by the UAE-based financial institutions and are investing within the UAE and the GCC, Groene said. About 15 Luxembourg-registered funds have been launched in the UAE in the past two years, she said.

The UAE and Luxembourg have signed a tax treaty to avoid double taxation of companies. The treaty came into effect on January 1. The two countries have also signed an MoU to allow funds registered in one country to operate in the other.

"A Luxembourg-registered fund can operate from anywhere. However, it comes under the regulations of Luxembourg financial supervisory authority — the CSSF," Janssen said.

Prince Guillaume will address a seminar at the DIFC and meet Governor Humaid Al Tayer. Trade between the UAE and Luxembourg stood at Dh57 million in 2008 but is expected to rise much higher once the long-pending FTA between the UAE and European Union is signed. Luxembourg is Europe's leading centre for reinsurance companies. Of late, it has also been attracting several information technology companies.

This is the second high- profile visit from Luxembourg in recent months. Jeannot Krecke, Luxembourg's Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, met UAE's Minister of Foreign Trade Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi two months earlier.

Sheikha Lubna invited businesses in Luxembourg to benefit from the opportunities and facilities offered by the UAE for investors. She added that it was important for companies from Luxembourg to take part in the exhibitions and commercial shows staged in the UAE as they offer marketing, promotion and networking opportunities in the region.

Source:business24-7.ae/