On Wednesday 12 July, The Bank of London confirmed in a press release that it had applied simultaneously to the European Central Bank and Luxembourg’s financial regulator (CSSF) for a banking licence.
The formal establishment of a base in the European Union will enable The Bank of London to support businesses in the world’s largest single market and trading bloc, said the press release. The €200m investment in Luxembourg and across the EU will help fuel the bank’s growth in Europe and the creation of 300 new jobs in management, compliance, risk, product development and business control, technology and operations.
“Luxembourg is the logical choice for us to build out our offering across the EU, and marks the latest step in our international growth strategy and follows the successful rollout of our banking solutions across the UK,” said The Bank of London CEO Anthony Watson. , president of the European Union region for The Bank of London, said this was “a major milestone for our business and follows the foundation established in the UK. Luxembourg is perfectly positioned to play a key role in driving the bank’s European business forward, and ensuring Luxembourg is the centre of clearing for the EU.”
Mangrove Capital Partners, an investment firm based in Luxembourg, is one of the bank’s shareholders noted the press release.
Luxembourg for Finance CEO , stressed that “the choice by The Bank of London is an enrichment for Luxembourg’s financial services ecosystem and testimony to its attractiveness for such a technology-based operator.”
, president of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL), added that “Luxembourg’s digital technology programme was specifically set up to help businesses and consumers and the potential for The Bank of London’s unique offering is enormous.”
The Bank of London is already licensed by the FCA, the UK regulator. It offers:
- clearing, payment and settlement services for regulated and non-regulated domestic and international businesses,
- commercial services to small and medium-sized businesses as well as government and institutional clients with a range of account, custody, foreign exchange, transaction and treasury solutions;
- and embedded banking (as-a-service), enabling businesses to fully integrate regulated banking products into their own customer offerings, under their own brand and powered by the bank's licence and platform.
This article was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.