ABBL

Association des Banques et Banquiers, Luxembourg
The Luxembourg Bankers' Association
Luxemburger Bankenvereinigung

Social affairs

Collective bargaining agreement

The ABBL Collective bargaining agreement aims to regulate the general terms of work between the member banks of the association and their employees.

Employment

Employment naturally represents a priority dossier for the ABBL in its role as an association representing employers in the Luxembourg financial sector. In November 2008, the ABBL launched a new tool called Job Market allowing its members to post job vacancies on the ABBL website as well as on the ABBL ExtraNet, the association’s secured information platform.

Financial training

Financial training

Over the past 10 years the tendency towards high levels of qualification in the Luxembourg financial sector has increased significantly. In 2008, higher degrees represented nearly 60% of the work force of ABBL members, with Bachelors making up 26.54% and degrees of at least Masters level 32.83%. This tendency towards higher qualifications is a direct reflection of the increased complexity and diversification of the financial world.

Health and safety at work

The Luxembourg Association for Occupational Health in the Financial Sector (Association pour la Santé au Travail du secteur Financier or ASTF) was founded in 1994 at the initiative of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association to comply with the legal requirements for monitoring the health and well-being of employees in their workplace.

Remuneration policies

The 2008 financial crisis revealed that the remuneration structures in certain credit institutions were inadequate in the sense that they encouraged excessive risk taking to generate short-term gains. In response, EU policy makers decided to define certain governance and transparency principles applicable to remuneration policies in the financial sector in order to warrant sound and efficient risk management practices in line with the long-term profitability of financial institutions.

Single statute

What is the single statute?

Until recently, those working in Luxembourg's private sector were divided into two categories or statutes: "blue-collar" workers and "white-collar" private employees. Essentially, this meant that blue-collar and white-collar employees were represented by different employee chambers, and had different health insurance and pension funds. On the 1st of January 2009, these separate statutes officially merged into a single statute for all employees of the private sector.

Social responsibility

In recent years, an increasing emphasis has been placed on companies and institutions’ responsibility for the environment and society. As important economic actors, financial institutions have a significant part to play in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To underline this role and in order to promote CSR across Europe’s financial sector, the European Banking Federation (EBF), of which the ABBL is a founding member, published a survey in 2008 outlining European banking sector best practices in the field of CSR.