The Grand Duchy hosts over 125 international banks and is Europe’s largest investment fund centre with over €5tn (£4.4tn) in assets under management. The financial sector contributes almost a third (roughly 30%) of the country’s GDP and employs over 50,000 professionals – roughly 7% of its total population.
Major global financial institutions are still growing their presence in the region. Big Four auditor PwC, the largest professional services firm in Luxembourg, is in the process of building a much larger ‘campus’ to house its roughly 3,600 Luxembourg-based workers.
We spoke to financial advice giant Utmost Wealth Solutions about how its base in Luxembourg works towards its long-term vision for international growth and how the jurisdiction serves its clients.
In this conversation, Jurgen Vanhoenacker, CEO of Utmost Luxembourg, and Olgert Gorani, head of direct client relations, Utmost Luxembourg discuss vision, expertise, and client experience.
How does Luxembourg’s role within Utmost reflect the Group’s long-term vision for international growth and jurisdictional leadership?
Jurgen: Luxembourg is core to Utmost Wealth Solutions’ international strategy. Sitting alongside Utmost’s Ireland, Guernsey, and Isle of Man offerings, it is more than a booking centre; it is an international hub of proven technical expertise, innovation, and regulatory excellence that enables the Group to deliver international wealth solutions with precision and integrity.
Luxembourg’s key strength lies in its ability to combine stability, investor protection, and adaptability. The robust legal framework under our local regulator, the Commissariat aux Assurances, provides the depth of governance that wealthy clients expect, while offering a platform for innovation across borders.
Utmost’s four booking centres form a unique and cohesive network of jurisdictions that position Utmost as a leader in the international wealth solutions sector. Each jurisdiction offers distinct advantages; however, they all share a commitment to excellence, continuity, and policyholder protection.
At Utmost, our ambition is clear: to continue setting the standard in insurance-based wealth solutions. Luxembourg gives us the foundation to lead responsibly, combining regulatory consistency with long-term vision.
Olgert, from your perspective leading direct client relations, how does this translate into the day-to-day experience for clients in Luxembourg?
Olgert: Clients often choose Luxembourg for its strength and jurisdictional stability, but they stay for the quality of the experience it provides them.
At Utmost Luxembourg, we serve clients from around the world, whose families live international lifestyles. Exceptional service is the norm for these clients, valuing a deep understanding of their challenges, technical accuracy, and personal attention. Our role is to ensure that we design solutions that are comprehensive and flexible to adapt to the clients’ evolving lifestyles.
Then, it is equally essential that the solutions designed on paper perform seamlessly in reality for them, from front to back, and as part of their overall planning. This is where Luxembourg’s ecosystem adds real value; we truly are an international hub, where the ability to integrate our local legal, financial, and operational excellence into the client’s international needs and framework is part of our nature and how we do business. And for Utmost, this means that when we talk about client centricity, this is not just a slogan; it truly is embedded in how we operate.
How do you see the synergy between technical excellence and client engagement as part of Utmost’s leadership position?
Jurgen: That synergy is precisely what defines our Group. Across all carriers of the Group, we are well-known for having a technical expertise powerhouse, enabling the creation of tailor-made solutions for wealthy clients that match their evolving needs and international lifestyles.
The structuring of the solution is, however, only the beginning of our engagement with the client. It is our ability to provide ongoing excellent service and constant satisfaction throughout the lifecycle of the policy that is the real illustration of a good client experience.
Olgert: This is where the Direct Client Relations team comes in. As a preferred point of contact for our directly serviced clients, we enable a smoother completion of their transactional and servicing requests, acting as a bridge and facilitator between the client and our colleagues in operations, who need to have all requests and related documentation duly completed to process them in a timely fashion.
Keeping the right level of constant engagement between the clients, their advisers, and our back-office teams while avoiding unnecessary pressure is the key dynamic in this equation.
