Deconstructing Finance

Lieu : neimënster – Centre Culturel de Rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster, salle Lou Koster (2e étage), 28, rue Münster, L-2160 Luxembourg (Grund)

Avec plus de 30 000 milliards de dollars d’actifs gérés selon des critères dits durables, la finance durable s’est imposée comme un élément significatif des marchés financiers contemporains. Elle suscite de fortes attentes, notamment de la part des épargnant·e·s souhaitant contribuer positivement à la transition écologique et sociale. Cet atelier propose d’examiner dans quelle mesure la finance durable est réellement en mesure de favoriser cette transition, en s’intéressant à l’écart entre les promesses et les réalisations observables.

À travers différentes thématiques, l’atelier reviendra sur les principaux développements de la finance durable et sur la manière dont ils influencent – ou non – les choix des entreprises et l’allocation du capital. Il abordera les attentes des épargnant·e·s en matière d’impact, les limites structurelles des instruments existants ainsi que les stratégies d’engagement actionnarial et les contraintes qui les entourent. Plus largement, l’atelier invitera à une réflexion sur les limites du secteur financier comme moteur de la transition vers une économie durable, au regard des logiques qui le structurent, notamment la gestion du risque, la recherche de rendement et la responsabilité fiduciaire.

L’objectif de l’atelier est de permettre aux participant·e·s de mieux comprendre les logiques actuelles de la finance durable et de disposer d’éléments d’analyse leur permettant d’évaluer de manière éclairée les discours, les pratiques et les produits proposés par le secteur. L’atelier s’adresse à toute personne – épargnant·e·s, investisseurs, professionnel·le·s du secteur financier, acteur·rice·s de la société civile ou simples citoyen·ne·s curieux·ses – souhaitant mieux comprendre les enjeux de la finance durable, sans qu’aucune connaissance financière préalable ne soit requise.

Venue: Maison des ONGD, 55, avenue de la Liberté, L-1931 Luxembourg

Microfinance loans are regarded as an important instrument for promoting financial inclusion and supporting economic activity in low-income regions. Recurring over-indebtedness crises – currently in India and Cambodia, for example, and in the past in Nicaragua, Bolivia, Pakistan, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, among others – nonetheless raise questions about the risks of commercial microfinance models. Not least, an article published in the Wall Street Journal in June 2026 has reignited the debate about the role of microfinance loans and the responsibility of the actors involved.

What factors contribute to the emergence of such crises? And how can microfinance institutions, investment managers, investors, and civil society effectively help to prevent over-indebtedness risks?

This workshop offers space for exchange and discussion on these questions. The aim is to develop a deeper understanding of the risks of commercial microlending and to discuss approaches for addressing these risks effectively.

The workshop focuses on topics including:

• Over-indebtedness risks: the vulnerable circumstances of target groups and cost pressures in global value chains
• The anatomy of past and present crises: lessons from over-indebtedness crises in India and other countries
• What works? Preconditions for responsible microcredit offerings: insights from research
• Challenges of existing approaches to preventing over-indebtedness: the practices of international development banks and client protection standards
• Requirements for responsible microlending and investment practice: approaches based on international standards (OECD)

The workshop is aimed at development cooperation professionals, actors from the microfinance sector, civil society representatives, and anyone wishing to deepen their understanding of this instrument and the associated standards, risks, and frameworks.

Venue: Maison des ONGD, 55, avenue de la Liberté, L-1931 Luxembourg

Development cooperation has changed fundamentally over the past decade. Whereas it once relied primarily on non-repayable grants, a growing share of public funding now flows into development funds, blended finance structures, and other financial vehicles. The aim is for this money not only to promote economic development in recipient countries but also to generate financial returns for investors. On the one hand, public resources are expected to be used more efficiently because, unlike traditional grants, the funding flows back at least partially – or may even generate income. On the other hand, projects expected to generate financial returns are intended to attract private capital and expand development financing well beyond the initial public investment.

The workshop examines the consequences of this financialization of development cooperation. How do these new financial structures work? What role do investment funds, development banks, and financial centres play? How much of the funding provided actually reaches people and projects on the ground, and how much remains within the financial sector in the form of management fees, service costs, and investor returns?

Particular attention is paid to Luxembourg. As the world’s second-largest fund domicile and an internationally significant hub for microfinance, the Grand Duchy plays a key role in the global architecture of development finance. A substantial share of European development banks’ investments in such funds – including those of Germany’s KfW Development Bank – is channelled through Luxembourg-based structures. What does this mean for recipient countries, for development cooperation, and for Luxembourg’s financial centre?

Using concrete case studies – such as the Luxembourg-domiciled Arbaro Fund – the workshop analyses typical financial constructions and discusses their implications for development policy. It also examines the assumptions behind the growing involvement of private financial actors and asks whether the promise that return-driven financing makes development cooperation more effective stands up to scrutiny.

The workshop is aimed at development cooperation professionals, civil society actors, journalists, and anyone interested in better understanding the relationship between financial centres and development policy.

Venue: Maison des ONGD, 55, avenue de la Liberté, L-1931 Luxembourg

Large corporations do not always pay tax where they actually do business. How they are taxed rests on a web of national and international rules that shape where profits appear on paper and where economic activity is genuinely taxed. A handful of countries, Luxembourg among them, sit at the heart of these arrangements by hosting structures such as holding companies and specialised financial entities.

This workshop examines how holding structures work, what they are used for, and the debates they raise around taxation and public finances. The aim is to make sense of the economic and legal logic behind them, and to understand what they mean for states and societies — for the public budgets that depend on tax revenue, and for the competition between countries to attract it.

Topics covered will include the fundamentals of how multinationals are taxed and the role that holding companies play within international groups, including how they function in practice. The workshop explores where tax optimisation ends and avoidance or fraud begins, and traces at least one case study following the use of Luxembourg structures within a multinational group. Participants will be introduced to hands-on research techniques for investigating such structures, which they can apply in their own work. Finally, the workshop turns to current debates and policy developments at the international level, including the role of the Global South and multilateral organisations in the international tax debate.

The workshop is aimed at those wishing to deepen their understanding of the mechanisms of international taxation, existing practices, and the associated issues in terms of public revenue, tax competition, and international policy initiatives.

Lieu : Maison des ONGD, 55, avenue de la Liberté, L-1931 Luxembourg

De tout temps et plus particulièrement lorsque le système financier montre ses limites comme lors de la crise financière de 2008, de nombreuses alternatives au système financier voient le jour. Cet atelier, qui clôturera le cycle, servira à mieux comprendre les récentes alternatives et vise à ouvrir de nouvelles perspectives. Il s’attache à répondre à la question centrale suivante : comment développer des alternatives financières et monétaires compatibles avec un développement sociétal et environnemental durable ? L’atelier comporte des éléments théoriques, mais explore surtout cette question à travers des exemples concrets. Il a pour but de présenter les solutions existantes mais aussi potentielles au Luxembourg. Une mise en perspective des enjeux plus systémiques, dans le prolongement des précédents ateliers, permettra de garder le lien du local au global.

Comment des alternatives basées sur le système monétaire existant peuvent potentiellement assurer la durabilité ? Faut-il changer la monnaie elle-même ? Le workshop commence par une brève analyse critique du système monétaire actuel. Ensuite les alternatives d’investissement basées sur celui-ci sont présentées. Par la suite, différents modèles de monnaies alternatives seront analysés et mis en relation avec des sujets des ateliers précédents, notamment la finance durable et la microfinance.

Les thématiques abordées incluront notamment :

• Les mythes populaires autour de la monnaie.
• Investissements alternatifs : etika, eticrowd, coopératives énergétiques, Gringgo (« Regionalwert AG »).
• Le mouvement de la diversité monétaire et des exemples de systèmes de coopération et d’échange régionaux et résilients : monnaies locales et l’exemple du Beki ; systèmes de crédit mutuel ; IOU’s (I owe you), systèmes de clearing et l’exemple du concept de Sikoba.
• Mise en perspective : de nouveaux modèles pour la finance durable et la microfinance ?