Lord Mayor of London visits Luxembourg
(CS) The Lord Mayor of the City of London was in Luxembourg Tuesday to meet with representatives of the financial sector and political decision-makers to discuss a number of issues, from BEPS to FTT and TTIP.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Alan Yarrow explained that there is much common ground between Luxembourg and the City of London, both of which are important financial centres in Europe.
He revealed that he had discussed the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project on multinational companies’ tax avoidance strategies with Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna, as well as the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), among a “broad section of issues.”
While acknowledging that in a number of areas the City of London and Luxembourg are competitors, Yarrow also said that there is room for both to survive, together with shared concerns over developments in the financial sector.
The Lord Mayor said that Luxembourg is regarded in the City as a “very interesting and necessary part of the European offering,” while also calling its financial sector “nimble”, “bright” and quick to adapt.
European reform
With around 40 percent of Luxembourg’s GDP originating in the country’s financial services sector, Yarrow also said that there is a political interest for the sector to flourish and remain competitive.
This could make Luxembourg a useful ally in the UK’s push for EU reform. Among 28 member state votes, Yarrow said, “we need friends.”
At the same time, the Lord Mayor said that he “can’t think about” a so-called Brexit scenario. Should the Conservative party remain in government following this year’s elections, Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to hold a referendum on the future of Britain in the EU, the outcome of which is far from predictable.
Yarrow on Tuesday said that “84 percent of our stakeholders are interested in remaining part of a reformed Europe,” adding that “we have a different view from the picture that might be spelled out by the media in the UK.”
In terms of reforms, the representative of the UK financial services sector commented that the momentum towards a single market should be maintained, if not accelerated, while more emphasis should be placed on the cost/impact analysis of new legislation. Additionally, he said, there needs to be recognition for the fact that the EU needs to be competitive “on a global scale” with a more outward-looking and less “parochial” perspective.
No party-political affiliation
The Lord Mayor of London is the leader of the City of London Corporation, and not to be confused with the Mayor of London, a post currently held by Conservative politician Boris Johnson. To better distinguish the two, the title of Lord Mayor of the City of London was introduced.
The Lord Mayor is elected each year, acting as an ambassador for the UK’s financial services sector around the world with no party-political affiliation.
The financial sector employs around two million people in the UK, of which over around 600,000 work in London, including 387,000 working in the City of London.
Yarrow took up the post in November 2014.
During his stay in Luxembourg he also met with representatives of the Luxembourg stock exchange, the Chamber of Commerce, supervisory body CSSF, the bankers’ association ABBL and the funds industry association ALFI.
On his agenda were also a trip to the Luxembourg Freeport and the European Investment Bank, as well as a meeting on Chinese banking to discuss the UK and Luxembourg experiences as actors in the field of the internationalisation of Chinese currency renminbi (RMB).
