Ninety-One Billion

Nearly 9'800 Belgians are full or partial owners of 11'200 companies registered in Luxembourg. They are the third most-represented nationality in the country's commercial register, behind only the French and Luxembourgers themselves. The hundred wealthiest Belgian families collectively control 416 Luxembourg-based companies valued at over 91 billion euros.[1]

The richest fifty families alone account for 85.5 billion euros, mainly through financial holding companies known as Soparfi, short for Societes de Participations Financieres. That figure exceeds the entire annual economic output of Luxembourg.[2]

The data comes from a fresh investigation by Belgian newspapers Le Soir and De Tijd, covering more than 32'000 records linking Belgians to Luxembourg companies. It is a follow-up to the 2021 OpenLux investigation, which involved 17 media outlets and revealed 10'066 Belgians registered as beneficial owners of at least one Luxembourg company. Five years on, the numbers have scarcely changed.[3]

At least 307 of the companies linked to Belgium's richest families are what the investigation calls "letterbox" entities: companies with no staff, no offices, and no operations, domiciled with professional corporate service providers. Over half of the wealthiest families use such structures. These 307 companies hold a combined 54 billion euros in assets.[4]

The persistence is striking. A 2018 Belgian tax reform reduced Luxembourg's relative appeal by introducing double taxation on payouts from Soparfi to Belgian shareholders: a 15% withholding tax in Luxembourg and a 30% tax in Belgium. Belgian tax authorities have since deployed the so-called "Caiman tax" and anti-abuse provisions under the EU parent-subsidiary directive to counter aggressive tax planning. And yet, the money stays.[5]

One example cited in the investigation is the entrepreneur Marc Coucke, who declared in 2018 that he had "nothing in Luxembourg" but has since registered four holding companies in the Grand Duchy between 2022 and 2025. These entities, without employees, have managed hundreds of millions of euros in securities and shareholdings.[6]

Tax lawyer Denis-Emmanuel Philippe, interviewed by Le Soir, offered two explanations for why the money does not leave. First: dismantling a Luxembourg structure would trigger hefty tax bills in Belgium. Second: it is "difficult to explain to Belgian banks the origins of assets that have been held in Luxembourg for decades." In other words, the money has been here so long that moving it would raise more questions than keeping it.[7]

The Belgian investigation is not making accusations of illegality. Holding companies do not require significant operational infrastructure to manage investments. The practice is legal. The question the investigation raises is not whether these structures break the law, but whether the law itself is doing what it was designed to do. The 2018 reforms and the Caiman tax were supposed to reduce the appeal of Luxembourg. The data shows they did not.[8]

Luxembourg's commercial register lists companies from all over the world. The French are the most represented foreign nationality, followed by Belgians, then Germans, then Italians. The country has roughly 660'000 inhabitants and a GDP of around 80 billion euros. It hosts, by conservative estimate, several trillion euros in assets under management. The Belgian slice alone, at 91 billion, is larger than the entire economy of the country hosting it.[9]

On the evening of 22 June, Luxembourg will hold its National Day torchlight procession through the city centre. Two thousand eight hundred people will carry fire through the streets. The Grand Ducal family will be welcomed at Place Guillaume II. Fireworks will be launched from the Adolphe Bridge. Somewhere in the financial district, 307 letterbox companies will sit dark and empty, holding 54 billion euros that will not be watching the sky.