Luxembourg: a strategic location

The move to new premises in Leudelange equips the Northern Trust team with new, modern facilities that are purpose-built to support its team in meeting the asset servicing requirements of Northern Trust’s clients – sophisticated fund and institutional investment managers, including traditional and alternative asset managers and multinational pension funds.

Steve David, Chief Executive Officer of Northern Trust’s Luxembourg-headquartered bank Northern Trust Global Services SE, notes that Luxemburg continues to be integral to the company’s strategy for European business growth. 

“As a continental European bank, we support investment managers as they distribute their funds and communicate with investors while managing the complexity of doing business in today’s fast-changing investment landscape and complex regulatory environment,” says David, who is also Head of Northern Trust’s Luxembourg Global Fund Services business supporting global asset managers.

A new milestone

Luxembourg has long been an important business centre for Northern Trust. The company first opened an office in the Grand Duchy as part of a client-led initiative in 2004, supporting the establishment of Europe’s first tax-transparent pooling investment vehicle. 2017 saw the acquisition of UBS Asset Management’s fund administration business in Luxembourg and Switzerland. In 2019 Luxembourg became the headquarters for its European bank.

Today, Northern Trust’s presence here complements its global network of offices in eight European countries and its presence in 26 global locations. This network provides clients with expertise and scale in helping them administer and distribute their investment strategies across Europe in partnership with colleagues based in Amsterdam, Basel, Dublin, Guernsey, Limerick, London and Stockholm.

“Our clients draw on our expertise as a provider of fund administration, depositary, and custody services to support their speed-to-market across Europe,” says David.

A modern home supporting clients’ focus

Northern Trust’s strategy includes its Whole Office™ approach of providing clients with access to new technologies and capabilities while supporting their trade execution, investment operations, data, digital and analytics requirements.

David notes that his team’s new premises are purpose-built to meet these needs: “Our modern new premises support our focus on technology and that of our clients in digitalising their operations for greater efficiency and stronger alignment with their investors,” he says.

Northern Trust completed its move to Leudelange just before the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. This year therefore marks the first time that its 450+ employees are working together at scale at this new location. The official opening event on 21 September celebrated this milestone with speeches, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and dinner.

Among the guests present were Director General of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, Claude Marx, CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, Nicolas Mackel, and Chairman of the Luxembourg Banking Association, Guy Hoffmann.

“As partners and stakeholders in our mutual success and that of Luxembourg’s financial services industry, we were honoured that our guests joined us to celebrate this important new milestone for our Luxembourg business” says David.

Read more about Northern Trust’s Luxembourg business