Seo Yuseok, Chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association, Discusses Financial Cooperation with Luxembourg Ambassador to Korea

Seo Yu-seok, Chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association, held a meeting with the delegation from the Luxembourg Financial Supervisory Authority (LFF) on the 5th to discuss ways to strengthen financial investment cooperation between the two countries. Jacques Flies, Ambassador of the Luxembourg Embassy in Korea, also attended the meeting.

The meeting was the first visit event since the official opening of the Luxembourg Embassy in Korea in December 2023, and it is expected to serve as an opportunity to further enhance financial cooperation between the two countries.

The Korea Financial Investment Association has been steadily expanding its cooperative relationship with Luxembourg. In September 2019, the association organized a delegation of domestic asset management company representatives to visit Luxembourg to discuss regulations and service improvements related to cross-border fund transactions. In February 2023, they consulted with Yuriko Backes, Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance, on investment cooperation measures.

At the meeting, Ambassador Jacques Flies stated, "Luxembourg, as the world’s number one international financial hub in the cross-border fund market, can provide an optimal business environment for Korean financial investment companies."

Ambassador Flies explained that Luxembourg creates a favorable environment for attracting investors by not imposing corporate tax on funds or capital gains tax on redemptions. He also emphasized that the size of UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) funds, which can be distributed within the EU without additional approval, accounts for more than 35% of global UCITS funds, highlighting Luxembourg’s close connection to the European financial market.

He added, "If Korean financial institutions utilize Luxembourg’s tax policies and fund networks, they will be able to secure various opportunities in the global market."

Chairman Seo Yu-seok said, "Luxembourg is a world-class asset management hub with a stable and flexible financial system, tax benefits, and cross-border fund management capabilities," and explained, "We will actively support domestic financial institutions to leverage these strengths of the Luxembourg market to pioneer new funding channels."

He continued, "We plan to promote various cooperation measures with the Luxembourg Embassy in Korea to benchmark Luxembourg’s advanced financial market model and help Korea grow into Asia’s global asset management hub."