Bernard Thomas, Retour au bureau d’imposition Sociétés 6, in: d’Lëtzebuerger Land, 30.6.2017.
Statec, List of main employers in Luxembourg by size, 2025, https://statistiques.public.lu/en/publications/theme/entreprises/principal-employeurs/princip-employeurs-taille.html, [last access 21.7.2025].
Gilbert Trausch/Marianne de Vreese, Luxembourg et les banques: de la révolution industrielle au 7e centre financier mondial, Luxembourg 1995;
Laurent Moyse et al., Les artisans de l’industrie financière, Luxembourg 2014.
Youssef Cassis et al. (eds.), The Oxford Banking and Financial History, Oxford 2016.
Christopher D. McKenna, The world’s newest profession: management consulting in the twentieth century, Cambridge 2006;
Carl Helbling, Geschichte der Treuhand- und Revisionsbranche, Zürich 2006;
Susanne Saygin, Weiter denken. 100 Jahre Deloitte – eine deutsche Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Munich 2008;
Dieter Ziegler et al. (eds.), Vertrauensbildung als Auftrag. Von der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Treuhand-Gesellschaft zur KPMG AG, Munich 2015;
Adrian Lemmenmeier/Tobias Straumann, Vertrauen als Mehrwert – 100 Jahre EY Schweiz, St. Gallen 2017.
Matteo Calabrese/Benoît Majerus, Archaeology of a Treasure Island: Actors and Practices of Holding Companies in Luxembourg (1929–1940), in: Contemporary European History 33 (2024), 1398–1415.
Deloitte & Touche (ed.), Deloitte & Touche, 50 ans au service de l’économie luxembourgeoise, Luxembourg 2000.
Deloitte & Touche (ed.), Deloitte & Touche, 50 ans au service de l’économie luxembourgeoise, Luxembourg 2000, 11.
Deloitte & Touche (ed.), Deloitte & Touche, 50 ans au service de l’économie luxembourgeoise, Luxembourg 2000, 32.
Deloitte & Touche (ed.), Deloitte & Touche, 50 ans au service de l’économie luxembourgeoise, Luxembourg 2000, 29–30.
Jean Hamilius, Luxemburg im Wandel der Zeiten: Erinnerungen (1927–2014), Luxembourg 2014. He later also pursued a political career, first as a Luxembourgish Member of Parliament, then as a Luxembourgish minister, and eventually became a Member of the European Parliament.
Interview with Roger Molitor, 9.2.2022. Roger Molitor had been equity partner at KPMG and started his career inside Interfudiciaire. This paper relies mainly on two types of sources: interviews with financial sector players and the specialised and generalist press. All interviews were recorded. The quotes used here were submitted to interviewees for approval, as agreed upon at the time of the interview. The semi-structured interviews present two significant biases: since research took a reconstructive approach, many interviewees were retired or at the end of their careers, and there is also a gender bias (eight men and two women were interviewed).
Benoît Majerus, This is not a scandal in Luxembourg, in: Entreprises et histoire 101 (2020), 75–87.
The Big Eight accounting firms – Arthur Andersen, Arthur Young, Coopers & Lybrand, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Ernst & Whinney, Peat Marwick Mitchell, Price Waterhouse, and Touche Ross – dominated the international market until the late 1980s. In 1989, two mergers reduced their number to six: Ernst & Whinney merged with Arthur Young to form Ernst & Young, while Deloitte Haskins & Sells merged with Touche Ross to create Deloitte & Touche. A decade later, in 1998, Price Waterhouse joined forces with Coopers & Lybrand, giving rise to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Finally, in 2002, the collapse of Arthur Andersen following its involvement in the Enron scandal eliminated another major player. Since then, the global audit market has been dominated by the Big Four: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC.
Interview with Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont, 6.7.2022. Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont has been managing partner of PwC Luxembourg from 1998 to 2007.
Interview with Raymond Schadeck, 25.4.2025. Raymond Schadeck has been managing partner of Arthur Andersen and of Ernst & Young.
Interview with Scott Cormack, 14.7.2022. Scott Cormack established Peat Marvick in Luxembourg in the 1980s.
Interview with Norbert Becker, 31.5.2022. Norbert Becker established Arthur Andersen in Luxembourg in the 1980s.
Interview with John Li, 18.4.2025.
Helbling, Geschichte der Treuhand- und Revisionsbranche, (cf. n. 5), 212–214.
Benoît Majerus, From local notables to global players: law firms in a tax haven (Luxembourg, 1960s to 2020s), in: Business History (2024), 1–17.
Interview with Alain Steichen by the author and William Lindsay Simpson, 9.3.2022. Alain Steichen has first worked at Price Waterhouse before founding his own law company.
ATOZ, Celebrating 20 years of ATOZ. Beyond tax lines, beyond horizons: Integrity knows no limits, https://www.atoz.lu/20-years [last access 4.10.2024].
Interview with Raymond Schadeck, 25.4.2025.
Jean-Michel Gaudron, Savoir combiner les talents, in: Paperjam, 26.1.2007.
Jean-Michel Gaudron, Nouvelle donne, in: Paperjam, 17.9.2004.
Interview with Scott Cormack, 14.7.2022.
Interview with Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont, 6.7.2022.
Interview with John Li, 18.4.2025.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Luxembourg was one of Europe’s most dynamic financial centres. In 1985, Luxembourg counted 146 banks, up from only 17 in 1960; by 1989, the number had risen to 223. A decisive factor in Luxembourg’s trajectory was the development of its investment fund industry. Fund assets grew from roughly € 23 billion in 1985 to € 113 billion in 1990, and by the year 2000 exceeded € 1 trillion. This spectacular growth, unmatched in Europe, made Luxembourg the preeminent jurisdiction for cross-border investment funds. By the 1990s, financial services accounted for more than a quarter of GDP, compared to about 10–12 % in Switzerland.
Unfortunately, I did not have access to the internal archives of any of the Big Four firms. The data series on revenue and staffing levels were therefore compiled through a systematic review of Luxembourg’s specialized economic press, particularly Paperjam and Agefi Luxembourg. It is important to note that, especially regarding the personnel figures, the data should be interpreted with caution due to the substantial growth in staffing over time and the frequent inconsistencies observed in reported numbers for the same year.
The data for the first fifteen years are drawn from press reports, while figures for the most recent decade are based on the annual reports of the firms themselves.
Sébastien Lambotte, Big Four – Changer, tant qu’il est temps, in: Paperjam, 14.12.2011.
Helbling, Geschichte der Treuhand- und Revisionsbranche, (cf. n. 5), 179.
Jean-Michel Gaudron, John Li prend de la hauteur, in: Paperjam, 8.9.2008.
Florence Reinson, Une question de définition, in: Paperjam, 5.12.2004.
Interview with John Li, 18.4.2025.
In 2003, PwC Luxembourg represented 0.7 % of PwC’s global workforce, and by 2014 this share had risen to 1.2 %.
Jean-Michel Gaudron, Les big four à la loupe, in: Paperjam, 14.12.2007.
Maximilien Haid, Le parcours d’intégration des jeunes diplômés d’une école de commerce au sein des Big Four au Luxembourg, Liège 2020.
PwC Luxembourg, Annual 2018 – Leading in changing times for our Clients, our People and Society, Luxembourg 2018, 11. Among the Big Four firms, PwC stands out as the only one to have publicly disclosed concrete figures on this issue. It is also noteworthy that PwC was the first company with a female managing partner, Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont who explicitly addressed gender imbalances within the firm.
That year, 12 % of the partners were women at Deloitte, 19 % at Ernst & Young and 24 % at KPMG. Gaudron, Les big four (cf. n. 41).
No data is available regarding the gender distribution among equity partners, the only category of partners vested with voting rights. When John Li was elected, two of the eight equity partners were women: e-mail from John Li to the author (24.4.2025). In 2022, among the five largest law firms in Luxembourg, 27 % of the partners were women (Majerus, From local notables (cf. n. 21), 9).
In the boards of directors of Luxembourg banks, the underrepresentation of women is even more significant: Matteo Calabrese et al., It’s a man’s world. Les femmes dans les conseils d’administration des banques au Luxembourg, https://majerus.hypotheses.org/1374 [last access 21.7.2025].
Statec, List of main employers (cf. n. 2).
Interview with Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont, 6.7.2022.
interview with Scott Cormack, 14.7.2022.
Interview with Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont, 6.7.2022.
Mario Hirsch, L’audit et le conseil en pleine évolution, in: d’Lëtzebuerger Land, 6.1.2001, 13.
Véronique Poujol, Les taupes, in: d’Lëtzebuerger Land, 15.12.2000, 11.
Bernard Thomas, Les confrères, in: d’Lëtzebuerger Land, 22.7.2016, 8.
Interview with Marc Feider, 9.7.2022. Marc Feider is a Luxembourgish business lawyer who has been managing partner of Allen & Overy Luxembourg in the 2000s.
Interview with Katia Scheidecker, 29.8.2022. Katia Scheidecker is a French business lawyer in Luxembourg having worked closely with PwC.
PwC and Deloitte legal ambitions battered as post-Enron reforms bite, in: Legal Week, 11.11.2003;
Interview with Katia Scheidecker, 29.8.2022.
KLegal International – A New International Law Network – KPMG Tax Advisers, in: Mondaq Business Briefing, 4.1.2000.
Le barreau a le Big 4 dans le viseur, in: Le Quotidien, 29.1.2015.
Quels sont les plus gros cabinets d’avocats au Luxembourg?, in: Paperjam, 20.2.2020.
Interview with Marc Feider, 9.7.2022.
Calabrese/Majerus, Archaeology of a Treasure Island (cf. n. 6);
Majerus, This is not a scandal (cf. n. 13);
Matteo Calabrese, Émergence et succès de l’industrie des fonds d’investissement au Luxembourg au XXe siècle, 1929–1989, in: Manuela Martini/Catherine Virlouvet (eds.), L’émergence de nouveaux marchés, Vincennes 2024, 209–223.
Benjamin Zenner, 75 Years of Banking Supervision in Luxembourg, in: Claude Marx et al. (eds.), Surveillance, indépendance et intégrité, Luxembourg 2020, 137.
Interview with Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont, 6.7.2022.
Interview with Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont, 6.7.2022.
Monterey Insight Luxembourg Fund Report.
Interview with Roger Molitor, 9.2.2022. Roger Molitor has been equity partner at KPMG, head of the tax department. In this quote, Roger Molitor is talking about the 1980s.
Majerus, From local notables (cf. n. 21), 1–17.
Interview with Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont, 6.7.2022.
Interview with Claude Kremer, 5.12.2022. Claude Kremer is a Luxembourgish business lawyer and one of the founders of Arendt & Medernach which became the largest law company on the Luxembourgish legal market in the 2000s.
Minutes of the extraordinary meeting of the ABBL Executive Committee, 23 November 1982, in: Private archives of the author.
Bernard Thomas, Les experts, in: d’Lëtzebuerger Land, 15.11.2013.
Minutes of the first CAIL meeting, 28 March 1980, in: Archives Nationales du Luxembourg (AnLux), Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), box C000016773.
I was able to identify a lawyer, Philippe Dupont, and two bankers, Pierre Etienne (Pictet) and Guy Hoffmann (Raiffeisen), among the members of the HCPF.
Charles Belfoure, Monuments to money. The architecture of American banks, Jefferson, N.C. 2005;
Cécile Duval et al., La BGL, l’architecture d’un siège dans une ville en mutation, in: Hémecht 1 (2023), 49–79.
For a long time, Boulevard Royal in the old part of Luxembourg City was the centre of the financial district, earning it the nickname «Luxembourg’s Wall Street.» Duval et al., La BGL (cf. n. 75). Beginning in the 1990s, with the emergence of new actors alongside the banks, Kirchberg – and in particular, Konrad Adenauer Boulevard – assumed increasing importance as a financial centre. The law firm Arendt & Medernach has also been based there since 2015.
Thierry Raizer, Le ruban est coupé pour Crystal Park, in: Paperjam, 25.11.2014;
Bernard Thomas, Les associés, in: d’Lëtzebuerger Land. 5.12.2014.
