No less than four of the five wealthiest municipalities in Belgium are located in the Province of Luxembourg, which borders the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This Belgian province—particularly its border areas—has been identified as an attractive growth market by private bankers and wealth advisors.
Last week, the Belgian statistical office, Statbel, revealed notable findings based on available income per municipality: most of Belgium’s wealthiest municipalities are situated in the sparsely populated Province of Luxembourg, adjacent to the Grand Duchy.
Attert, with a median income of 42,211 euro in 2022, is Belgium’s richest municipality. It is a village with fewer than 6,000 residents, many of whom work in the nearby Grand Duchy, benefiting from high wages and a favourable tax regime.
Messancy, Étalle, and Saint-Léger also rank in the top five. Add Arlon and Habay to the mix, and Luxembourg accounts for six of Belgium’s ten wealthiest municipalities.
Important nuance: the Statbel figures refer only to administratively registered incomes and not financial or real estate wealth. This includes professional income, government benefits, rental income, and capital gains.
Source: Statbel
Growth potential
Are there untapped opportunities for wealth advisors in the Province of Luxembourg? Experts and bankers say yes, as the Grand Duchy is a major driver of income and wealth growth in its neighbouring Belgian province. Rising property prices in the region are seen as an indication that Luxembourg is a «growth market».
This becomes particularly evident when professionals working in the Grand Duchy and residing in the Belgian province reach the end of their careers. At this stage, they often benefit from generous group insurance payouts or other pension arrangements. Such liquidity events free up significant sums of money, creating a demand for financial advice.
However, with a population of less than 300,000 and often hard-to-reach villages, the province poses challenges. For a specialised private bank like Puilaetco, which serves all of Wallonia from just two offices (in Liège and Namur), maintaining frequent personal contact is a hurdle.
«We serve several families living in the Province of Luxembourg, but not on a large scale,» says Benoit Bilquin, Head of Wealth Management Wallonia at Puilaetco.
«The private banking market in this province seems more favourable for larger banks with extensive local branch networks. When a liquidity event occurs or there is a demand for wealth management services, the retail network—its main strength—can pass on leads to the private or wealth segments.»
Marc Coucke in Durbuy
One of these large banks is KBC, operating as CBC in Wallonia. «The Province of Luxembourg—and more specifically its border areas—is indeed an attractive market for private banking,» confirms CBC spokesperson Gwendoline Hendrick.
«For several reasons: the province may not be densely populated, but it offers significant potential. Many residents work in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or France. There are also some good businesses in the region, albeit fewer than in other provinces. A third point is the presence of large investors.»
One such investor is serial entrepreneur Marc Coucke, who is rapidly transforming the Luxembourgish town of Durbuy into a tourist hotspot with a range of hospitality, sports, and leisure activities. However, it remains to be seen whether his ambitious tourism empire will become financially self-sustaining and give the entire province an economic boost.
In the race to attract affluent Luxembourgish professionals, CBC promotes its «digital private banking» platform, described as «a 100 percent remote replica» of traditional face-to-face services. Hendrick explains: «Active clients who are unwilling or unable to travel can still access the full range of services through digital technology.»