Airbnb to process EU payments via Luxembourg as Brexit looms

Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Airbnb logo is seen on a little mini pyramid under the glass Pyramid of the Louvre museum in Paris

(Reuters) - Airbnb will process payments between hosts and guests for the European Union through Luxembourg as of 2020, as the home rental giant prepares for Britain's departure from the bloc, Luxembourg for Finance said on Wednesday.

Airbnb, which was founded in 2008, set up a hub in Luxembourg at the end of last year and has now been granted a payment institution license, Luxembourg for Finance, a body which promotes the country's financial sector, said.

Payments sector giant PayPal Holdings, Amazon Payments, Rakuten and Alipay have picked Luxembourg as their hub to serve the European Union, Luxembourg for Finance said.

(Reporting by Aniruddha Ghosh and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Carolyn Cohn)