Weydert. ‘Luxembourg also had, and actually has, taken
initiatives to loosen its strict bank secrecy policy and to
increase its cooperation with foreign tax authorities. It
applies great importance to complying with the OECD
standards. The banking secrecy in Luxembourg still
remains compatible with the rules set out by the OECD.
Luxembourg thus maintains its banking secrecy policy
as an instrument for protecting investor’s privacy. Such
protection is key in a relationship of trust. However one
can say that there is definitely a certain loosening of the
banking secrecy rules laid down which can and shall not
be ignored in particular not by the private banking
sector.’
The changes were bound to happen. ‘There was a
sense of inevitability,’ says Dirk leermakers. ‘The
changes the Luxembourg government made were char-
acteristic of current times.’ Indeed unsurprisingly, mar-
ket response has been pragmatic to the new regula-
tions. ‘In a way, the market has been conservative tak-
ing into account that some clients have been attracted
by the banking secrecy,’ comments Vivian Walry. ‘But at
the same time, other countries with banking secrecy
have been submitted to the same pressure: everybody
has thus been obliged to apply the same transparency
rules leading to a general evolution of the market.
Luxembourg is now adapting its system to fully
embrace this era of openness (the country aims at
attracting new tax engineers and becoming a more
expert and highly-skilled private banking place).’
‘Luxembourg will most likely remain persistent to
take a conservative approach to releasing details of its
foreign investors to authorities,’ comments Josée
Weydert. ‘However, like everyone, Luxembourg has to
face constraints from the “outside”. Recent discussions
on the “FATCA” are business sensitive.’
The impact of these changes certainly hasn’t phased
the legal community. ‘Private banking has been impact-
ed by the discussions on the bank secrecy in that most
likely some of the more “smaller” clients have been
frightened off and have taken their monies out of
