Through its “Whole Office” approach Northern Trust is sustaining strong growth in Luxembourg: assets under administration grew 23% last year1. An interview with Steve David, both CEO of Northern Trust’s Luxembourg-headquartered bank, Northern Trust Global Services SE, and Head of its Global Fund Services business supporting sophisticated global investment managers.  

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What role does Luxembourg play in your business plans? 
Northern Trust’s presence in Luxembourg is at the forefront of our continental European strategy. It is the headquarters of our European bank, complementing our network of offices in eight European countries and presence in 26 global locations. As a continental European bank, we help investment managers distribute their funds and communicate with investors while managing the complexity of their business. We support these clients through our Whole Office™ approach, providing access to new technologies and capabilities while supporting their trade execution, investment operations, data, digital and analytics requirements.  

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“Northern Trust’s presence in Luxembourg is at the forefront of our continental European strategy” 

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You recently moved to Leudelange: how is that supporting your business growth?  
This new office has been purpose-built to meet the asset servicing needs of our clients, including supporting their focus on technology and digitalizing their operations. We moved in 2020, just before the first lockdown of the COVID pandemic. So, 2022 marks the first time our 450+ employees are working together at scale here via our hybrid working and future of work models. More broadly, we continue to be a top ten fund administrator in Luxembourg with $308 billion in assets under administration2, which reflects a 23% year-on-year increase and our extensive capabilities for delivering fund administration, depositary and custody services. Our Whole Office™ approach is also driving business growth,  helping us meet demand for services additional to our traditional asset servicing solutions. For example, our network of partnerships with leading technology firms,  comprising data science and behavioural analytics, can help our clients use data in new ways to drive faster and smarter investment decisions. 

 

Why is Luxembourg so important for your business? 
Luxembourg has long been an important business centre for Northern Trust. We first opened an office here as part of a client-led initiative in 2004, resulting in the establishment of Europe’s first tax-transparent pooling investment vehicle. In 2017 we acquired UBS Asset Management’s fund administration business in Luxembourg and Switzerland, bringing additional scale to our asset servicing business.  

Today, the continued growth of Luxembourg as a leading hub for global investment funds,  with €5.9 trillion assets under management in December 20213,highlights the strong demand for Luxembourg UCITS and alternative funds, including private equity, real estate and private debt. These elements make the Grand-Duchy a natural home for our European bank. Luxembourg-domiciled funds are distributed in 70 countries. 57% of all UCITS funds registered for distribution in three or more countries around the world are registered here4. Last but not least, Luxembourg continues to drive opportunity for our clients with its flexible fund structuring solutions that are available for a large variety of investment funds to suit both their investor type and investment strategies. 

 

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