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The tax exemption of interest revenues and the high level of professional secrecy were the unique selling points of Luxembourg for the German banking community. From the 1960s to the 1990s, they were the main causes for the rise of Luxembourg to one of the biggest euromarket places. The government of Luxembourg used these institutional factors to foster and accelerate the economic transformation from an industrial to a post-industrial country. The German banks did not reduce or even discontinue their presence in Luxembourg after the end of tax exemption and strict banking secrecy. Instead, they specialized on syndicated loans, treasury functions and Private Wealth Management for wealthy clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on conceptual research exploring how evolving geographies of finance inform urban and regional change, we examine the size and functional scope of the presence of leading global banks across functional urban areas in Europe. Based on data for 100 major global banks, we find that their overall presence is proportional to (the square root of) the national gross domestic product. London and Luxembourg host far more banks than can be explained by their national gross domestic product, which can be traced back to their export of banking services. We also analyze the geographies of specialized banking services per city. Corporate and investment banking are mainly explained by national gross domestic product, with London emerging as the most prominent center. Private banking and securities services, in turn, are largely independent of national gross domestic product and rely on the importance of small and specialized economies such as Luxembourg and St Helier (Jersey). The stability of Europe's banking centers is underpinned by their role as the national banking center and/or their specialization in international banking services, as well as manifested in specialized subnetworks of financial centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]