L-R: Zhu Linan, President of Legend Holdings; Yin Yong, Deputy Mayor of Beijing; Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg Minister of Finance; Marcel Leyers, President of the Excecutive Committee of BIL; Credit: BIL

The Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL) today announced the establishment of its Representative Office in Beijing; this makes BIL the first Luxembourg bank to open such an office in China. 

With the arrival of Legend Holdings as its shareholder, BIL considered the next step to be expanding on the Chinese market. In this regard, the bank aims to play a greater role in promoting business exchanges as well as economic and trade cooperation between China and Luxembourg.

Indeed, BIL has already established increasingly closer cooperation with Chinese companies and entrepreneurs to help them do business in Europe. In addition, BIL works closely with the Luxembourgish branches of Chinese banks.

Luxembourg's Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna, stated at the opening ceremony: “A leading European financial centre, Luxembourg plays an important role as a gateway to the EU for Chinese financial institutions and as a hub for cross-border investment between China and Europe". He added: "The opening of BIL’s representative office in Beijing, the first by a Luxembourg bank, will further help to cement Luxembourg’s bridging role. With the backing of Legend Holdings, a solid and reputable shareholder, I am confident that BIL will be able to bring Chinese firms and investment to Europe and support European businesses and investors in China”.

Zhu Linan, President of Legend Holdings, added: ”China and Luxembourg, the world's second largest economy and one of the world's leading financial centres, have strong complementarity to each other, especially when the current macroeconomic and political environment allows more further cooperation and win-win opportunities for both sides in all aspects. Benefiting from Luxembourg's special position as a gateway to European markets, BIL can play a special role in promoting cooperation between China and Luxembourg and furthermore Europe”.

The opening was held during a visit of a delegation from Luxembourg for Finance. Luxembourg's Ambassador to China, Marc Hübsch, Luxembourg for Finance CEO Nicolas Mackel, Senior Vice President of Legend Holdings and deputy Chairman of BIL’s Board of Directors, Li Peng, and other senior executives of Legend Holdings and BIL attended the ceremony.