SAN FRANCISCO, California: In an interview with Reuters, Matthew Davies, head of Bank of America's global transaction services unit for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the bank has hired former BNP Paribas banker Benoit Nevouet to be the manager of a newly created Luxembourg branch.

Opening a branch in the small but wealthy country is part of the bank's efforts to grow its business in Europe, and provide services to its clients, such as investment funds with local bank accounts, he added.

"Bank of America is first focused on bringing across existing clients which it served from a partner bank in Luxembourg to its new branch. We will then start to add new clients, as there is demand for us to bring on around 100 entities per month," Davies said, as quoted by Reuters, adding that customers will include large companies, investment funds and other non-bank financial firms.

Bank of America is also hiring a dedicated money laundering prevention officer, as well as other support staff in functions such as compliance, risk and legal, to support the Luxembourg branch.

In 2019, F&D magazine, an International Monetary Fund publication, said Luxembourg was a world-leading tax haven that attracted as much foreign direct investment as the US.