The “beating heart” of Luxembourg’s fintech community, the Luxembourg House of FinTech (LHoFT), fêted its fifth anniversary on Friday with a gala to reflect on its achievements and look to the future.
“Over the past 5 years, the LHoFT has become the beating heart of the Luxembourg Fintech community, connecting the financial centre with innovation,” said finance minister Yuriko Backes, adding: “We now havea solid foundation to take LHoFT to the next level and support the rapid digital transformation of the financial services industry. Over the coming months and years, the LHoFT, as a private-public partnership, will be an important tool to help us attract and develop new talent in Luxembourg and connect financial technology with sustainable finance. It will help our financial sector to seize new opportunities in an evolving regulatory landscape and support the development of mutualized solutions to address current and future challenges.”
“Over the past 5 years, the LHoFT has become the beating heart of the Luxembourg Fintech community.”
Yuriko Backes, Luxembourg’s finance minister
LHoFT was officially registered as a foundation in April 2017 to promote knowledge sharing and technological innovation within the financial services community, while helping to boost the country’s competitiveness. Today it counts around 84 companies resident at its offices in the Gare district with a further 86 members living outside of the premises. Meanwhile, the fintech sector is thought to number around 250 firms in the grand duchy, employing more than 5,000 people.
Among the highlights from the last half decade that were mentioned during the speeches were the funds raised by LHoFT members and residents–over €1b in total, of which €400m was raised through connections with private and public capital.
Looking to the next five years, the LHoFT will focus its energy on education, offering insights and attracting talent. It will use its online channel to drive content about industry trends and innovations.
It plans to strengthen connections with universities in Europe in a bid to “funnel much-needed talent into the grand duchy,” the LHoFT said in a statement.
ESG and sustainable finance will also continue to be a focus and this year, the LHoFT will publish a detailed report follow up on its gender equality in finance and technology campaign.
And it is developing a strategy centered on mutualised utilities for the Luxembourg financial centre, to develop areas of competitive advantage while helping to overcome key challenges for the financial institutions.
“We are excited for what more we can do in the next five years and beyond”
Nasir Zubairi, CEO of the LHoFT
LHoFT CEO Nasir Zubairi said: “Luxembourg is a special place where everyone can make a difference. Working with amazing people from the whole ecosystem and alongside my incredible team over the past five years has been a genuine pleasure. We seek to help the ecosystem in Luxembourg adapt to challenges with new solutions and to grasp new opportunities presented through technology. We are excited for what more we can do in the next five years and beyond. We very much look forward to our continued collaborations.”
