| Leading bookrunners of Luxembourg franc issues 1997/98 | |||
| Lfr bn | issues | ||
| 1 | Banque Générale du Luxemboug | 52 | 25 |
| 2 | Banque Internationale à Luxembourg | 47 | 25 |
| 3 | Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de l'Etat | 40 | 20 |
| 4 | Banque Bruxelles Lambert | 27 | 13 |
| 5 | Bancob Savings Bank | 13 | 6 |
| 6 | Kredietbank | 8 | 5 |
| 7 | ABN Amro | 6 | 3 |
| 8 | Paribas | 6 | 3 |
| 9 | Cera | 5 | 3 |
| 10 | Ippa Bank | 2 | 2 |
It will be a rich irony if, as many people expect, the coming of the euro signals the end for Luxembourg's capital market. For the Grand Duchy can lay claim to being the birthplace of Europe's single-currency bond market. In March 1981, Kredietbank Luxembourg led the first bond to be denominated in Ecu. The issue was for Luxembourg-based Softe, the financial subsidiary of Italian telephone company Stet.