Renaud Oury on why relationships are a priority in Luxembourg

We have over 750 employees based locally in Luxembourg; a jurisdiction that serves as the hub for our expansive suite of solutions enabling us to deliver service across the value chain of client’s operations; from fund administration, middle office, digital banking, custody, depositary, ManCo, Distribution services, corporate solutions to ESG Ratings and Advisory services.

Our business is motivated by People and Product, with client service at the heart of everything we do. With this in mind, we asked Renaud to take a lens on Luxembourg, and explain the Group’s approach to delivering exceptional service to local clients through focusing on relationships.

Q&A

Why is Luxembourg an important jurisdiction for the Apex Group?

Luxembourg is one of the largest investment jurisdictions in the world. Our ability to deliver every element of service across the full breadth of a client’s operations locally, means we have a really unique offering for our clients based here. As we continue to build out our offering with new products and services, including the launch of our Digital Banking platform and key acquisitions such as that of FundRock, we will be able to offer our clients a truly unrivalled solution to support their business.

So Product is the starting point to deliver great service, how do we bring the People element in to it?

People are the the critical element. It is not enough to have the capabilities and technologies available, it is the way in which those services are delivered and the ultimate client experience that delivers value. We are laser focused on client service and with so many clients in Luxembourg, we are really placing that at the heart of our local strategy. This year we have formed two new departments, in addition to our existing service teams; a dedicated Client Relationship Management arm, and a Strategic Client Function – both of which will be dedicated to nurturing and enhancing relationships with clients.

We have a large German speaking client base in Luxembourg, serviced by our dedicated German ManCo, LRI Invest, and we are not only enhancing our English-speaking service capabilities, but also adding new expert recruits that are fluent in both German and English to reinforce our tailored solutions for all client types. We are currently hiring new talent to join these teams and are looking forward to driving enhanced client satisfaction across Luxembourg as a result.

In addition to excellent levels of client service, what do you think is important to clients as we start to emerge from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic?

It is important not to guess the answer to that question. Too often businesses make the mistake of assuming they know what their clients need and want, but it is critical we actually ask them and the broader industry what their priorities are. In terms of service, our clients are looking for responsiveness. This is why we are developing our service teams to reinforce the strength of that ability to respond in minutes, not hours, and have various other initiatives we’re focusing on in 2021 to leverage technology for instant escalation and enhanced workflows.

In addition to this, a recent poll we issued also tells us that clients are looking to providers that are able to fill multiple needs for a scalable future:

• 95% of respondents believe they would benefit from having a single-source provider that can deliver on all their financial services needs
• 74% would be interested in consolidating vendor contracts to one provider to save costs

We know we can deliver on this from a product perspective, which is why we have been building our business and expanding our service capabilities, yet it is also important that these services are integrated and not siloed – for this reason we are also committed to delivering a single point of contact for our clients. This person is dedicated to working with the client during their entire lifecycle across all solutions, which is the important People element of the process. We have a very similar process when it comes to onboarding, firstly we are simplifying this through a digital onboarding experience, removing the need for a lengthy process and wet signature, and we are bringing that task in to a central onboarding structure and team. This means we are able to both accelerate and simplify the onboarding process, making the experience as frictionless and efficient as possible for our clients.

What’s next for Apex in Luxembourg?

Luxembourg remains a strategic location for us and we have a long-term commitment to the jurisdiction; that commitment spans across both our employees and our clients there. With the size and strength of our local business, including subsidiaries FundRock, LRI and EDB, we have become part of the Luxembourg ecosystem. Together, we are one business – and we collectively place great importance on working closely with all major local stakeholders to uphold the highest levels of transparency and stewardship.

Our business is changing as we evolve to better support our clients - with that focus we are bringing in new talent and are always interested to hear from industry professionals with the same vision of building a unique business. Ultimately, we want to be a trusted partner providing a single-source solution, delivered with the highest standards of quality, at a fair price point – and most importantly, by People that believe in our united group values.