KBC Group explained

KBC Group N.V.
Type:Public
Traded As:

BEL 20 component
Foundation: (Kredietbank), present name (KBC Group) dates from 2005
Location:Havenlaan 2, B-1080, Brussels, Belgium
Industry:Financial services
Products:Banking, insurance, asset management
Revenue:7.629 billion (2019)[1]
Net Income:€2.489 billion (2019)
Aum:€216 billion (2019)
Assets:€290.7 billion (end 2019)
Equity:€20.4 billion (end 2019)
Num Employees:37,854 (FTE, end 2019)

KBC Group N.V. is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank-insurer, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It was created in 1998 through the merger of Kredietbank (KB), the cooperative, ABB Insurance, and Fidelitas Insurance. The acronym KBC stands for KredietBank and CERA.

KBC Group is one of Belgium's major companies and the second largest bancassurer in the country. As of late 2020, it was the 15th largest bank in Europe by market capitalisation[2] and a major financial player in Central and Eastern Europe, employing some 41,000 staff (of which more than half in Central and Eastern Europe) and serving 12 million customers worldwide (some 7 to 8 million in Central and Eastern Europe). KBC is a Forbes Global 2000 company.[3]

The group is controlled by a group of core shareholders, and has a free float of approximately 60%. The core shareholders include KBC Ancora, a listed company controlled by CERA (or, a holding company formed by the cooperative clients of CERA Bank at the time of the 1998 merger), owning 19%; MRBB (Dutch; Flemish: Maatschappij voor Roerend Bezit van de Boerenbond), a vehicle of the Boerenbond farmers' association, at 12%; a group of industrialist families, at 8%; and CERA directly, at 3%. Its shares are traded on the Euronext exchange in Brussels.

KBC has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank.[4] [5]

Background

Volksbank van Leuven, local savings banks and Middenkredietkas

On, a group of prominent Catholics founded the Dutch; Flemish: Volksbank van Leuven ("People's Bank of Leuven"), a cooperative bank to finance the development of business in and around Leuven.

In the early 1890s, the Boerenbond farmers movement, similarly inspired by Catholicsm and corporatism and also based in Leuven, led the development of burgeoning network of rural cooperative banks inspired by the model created in Germany by Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen. The first of these Dutch; Flemish: Spaaren Leengilden ("savings and loans associations") was created in 1892 in the village of near Aarschot. By 1895, there were 24 Dutch; Flemish: Spaaren Leengilden; that year, the Boerenbond established the Middenkredietkas ("central credit fund") as a central body to help them manage their customers' savings and access funding from the Caisse générale d'épargne et de retraite, a national financial institution.[6] In 1902, the network had grown to 190 local savings banks, and would further expand to 378 by 1913 and 1099 in 1934. In 1903, the Middenkredietkas decided to reduce its exclusive dependence on the CGER and established a permanent relationship with the Volksbank van Leuven for the management of some of the farmers' savings.

Algemene Bankvereeniging, Bank voor Handel en Nijverheid, Almanij

After World War I, the Middenkredietkas strengthened its structural cooperation with the Volksbank van Leuven, which in 1919 had transformed itself into a joint-stock company. The two institutions jointly sponsored the creation or acquired control of several other banks in Dutch-speaking Belgium, including the Algemeene Bankvereeniging (ABV, "General Banking Association"), founded in 1921 in Antwerp, and two banks named French: Bank voor Handel en Nijverheid (BHN, "Bank for Trade and Industry") respectively in Ghent and Kortrijk. On, ABV and the Volksbank van Leuven merged. The new entity, which kept the name Algemeene Bankvereeniging, was controlled by the Middenkredietkas; in 1930 it acquired BHN Ghent, which in the meantime had merged with a number of other local banks in East Flanders, and in October 1931 purchased another financial group, the French: Crédit Général de Belgique also known as French: Crédital. The latter combination resulted in the creation in 1931 of the holding company Almanij in Antwerp, which received a number of industrial company stakes. As a consequence, the Boerenbond-controlled banking cluster became one of Belgium's largest credit institutions, able to rival the Banque de Bruxelles and Generale Bank. The Boerentoren high-rise building in Antwerp, financed by ABV, was the second-tallest skyscraper in Europe at the time of its completion in 1931, just behind Madrid's Telefónica Building (1929). It became the symbol of the Boerengroup's financial might, to the dismay of some of the Catholic clergy including Cardinal Jozef-Ernest van Roey who feared that the farmers' movement was drifting away from its religious roots and towards commercialism.

Kredietbank

With financial stress increasing in the early 1930s, however, the Middenkredietkas accumulated losses and had to declare a moratorium on its liabilities on, followed on by a highly publicized liquidation process. The restructuring, including a reimbursement of depositors that would only be completed in 1963, was directly managed by the Belgian government and led by Albert-Édouard Janssen. On, ABV and BHN Kortrijk merged to form the Dutch; Flemish: Kredietbank voor Handel en Nijverheid, commonly known as Kredietbank (KB). The Kredietbank was registered in Antwerp but its actual head office was established in Brussels. Fernand Collin, who became its president in 1938, defined the Kredietbank as an independent bank with a decidedly Flemish character which would be an instrument to further Flemish economic growth.

In 1943, Almanij, which had become Kredietbank's majority owner during the 1935 restructuring, underwent a capital increase.[7] As a consequence, the Middenkredietkas (in liquidation) became a minority shareholder, and the control of the group was transferred to a group of families later known as the "Almanij Syndicate",[8] which by the 1970s included Collin and André Vlerick, a son-in-law of Gustave Sap who had been associated with the Algemeene Bankvereeniging since its creation.[9]

In 1949, Kredietbank established its first international subsidiary, Kredietbank SA Luxembourg (known as KBL). In 1951, Kredietbank's shares began listing on the Brussels Stock Exchange, even though Almanij retained control. In 1952, Kredietbank expanded into the Belgian Congo by establishing a branch in Léopoldville, then in 1954 acquired French: Banque Congolaise pour l’Industrie, le Commerce et l’Agriculture and renamed it Kredietbank-Congo.[10] That operation grew into four branches, in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), Bukavu, Elizabethville (now Lubumbashi), and Stanleyville (now Kisangani), but was discontinued in 1966 following Belgian Congolese independence in 1960. In 1958, Kredietbank expanded into Wallonia through the acquisition of local banks, which it merged in 1961 into a newly formed subsidiary named French: Crédit Général. Kredietbank further built up its international network in the late 1960s, with the opening of offices in New York and Mexico City, then in Johannesburg, Melbourne, Atlanta, Tehran, Tokyo, Madrid, and Los Angeles, and branches in New York, London, the Cayman Islands, and a subsidiary in Geneva. In 1970, together with six other European institutions, Kredietbank established the Inter-Alpha Group of Banks.

In 1979, controlling ownership of KBL was transferred from Kredietbank directly to Almanij. In 1982, Kredietbank acquired majority ownership of Bankverein Bremen AG, originally founded in 1889 as Bremer Vorschussverein, and renamed it Kredietbank-Bankverein AG in 1990, also known as or BKB.[11] In 1996, KBL absorbed . In 1997, Kredietbank expanded into Hungary through the privatization of K&H Bank.

ABB and CERA

During the Middenkredietkas's liquidation in March 1935, the Boerenbond renamed its rural cooperatives as Dutch; Flemish: Raiffeisenkassen, and formed a new central body in Leuven, the Dutch; Flemish: Centrale Kas voor Landbouwkrediet (CKL, "Central fund for agricultural credit"). In 1941, its insurance operations developed since the late 19th century were renamed Dutch; Flemish: Assurantie van de Belgische Boerenbond (ABB, "Belgian Farmers' Union Insurance") and in the following decades became one of the largest Belgian insurers.[12]

The number of Belgian Raiffeisen banks was about 800 in the early 1970s, then further decreased through consolidation to reach 218 in 1996. In 1970, the CKL changed its name to Dutch; Flemish: Centrale Raiffeisenkas ("Central Raiffeisen Fund"), which in the late 1970s was abbreviated to CERA; it moved from downtown Leuven to an expansive new office campus in the city's outskirts in 1991.[12] In the mid-1980s, a new legal framework led to the creation in 1986 of CERA Bank as a fully-fledged central banking entity.

1998 Merger and subsequent history

On, CERA Bank, ABB, and Fidelitas (the insurance arm of Almanij) merged into Kredietbank NV, whose name was changed to KB ABB Cera Bank and Insurance Holding Company NV. On, the group's parent entity was renamed KBC Bank and Insurance Holding Company NV. On, that was shortened to KBC Group NV simultaneously with merger with Almanij, the former holding company.

In 1999, KBC acquired majority control of Československá obchodní banka, a prominent bank in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2001-2002 it took control of in Poland. By 2007, it had made further acquisitions in Bulgaria (DZI Insurance, DZI Invest and EIBANK), Romania (KBC Securities Romania, Romstal Leasing and INK Insurance Broker), Russia (Absolut Bank), and Serbia (KBC Banka and Senzal, Hipobroker, and Bastion). In 2008, it purchased Istrobanka in Slovakia from BAWAG.

During the late-2000s financial crisis the stock price dropped from 106€ on 18 May 2007 to 5€ on 6 March 2009, a loss of 95% over a period of 22 months. The bank needed and received support from the Flemish government for an amount of 3.5 billion Euros. After the crisis the bank embarked on a divestment programme to satisfy the requirements of the European Commission. As such, it sold several subsidiaries, including Centea, Fidea, Kredyt Bank, ADB, KBC Deutschland, Absolut Bank and KBL European Private Bankers, the latter being acquired by Precision Capital, owned by Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, for a reported €1.05 billion in October 2011[13] and renamed Quintet Private Bank in 2020. The divestment programme was completed in 2014 and the state aid entirely paid back by 2015, five years ahead of the agreed schedule. Since then the KBC share price recovered to around a maximum of €75 in the month of January 2022.

In 2017, KBC acquired United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) and Interlease in Bulgaria. On 7 July 2022 KBC Bank acquired Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD from Raiffeisen Bank International and rebranded it KBC Bank Bulgaria.[14] On 10 April 2023 KBC Bank Bulgaria has been merged into United Bulgarian Bank.[15] In February 2017, Ireland was defined as a new core market of KBC Group, but in April 2021, KBC entered into talks with Bank of Ireland to sell its performing loan book and announced its intention to withdraw from Ireland.[16] As of 2022, the KBC group is focused on five countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.

Structure and main subsidiaries

KBC Group NV is the direct parent company of:

All other KBC Group companies are direct or indirect subsidiaries of these. The main ones are shown in the table:

Company Registered office Share of capital held at group level (in%) Business unit* Activity
KBC BANK GROUP
KBC Bank NV Brussels – BE 100,00 BEL credit institution
CBC BANQUE SA Namur – BE 100,00 BEL credit institution
Československá Obchodná Banka a.s. Bratislava – SK 100,00 IMA credit institution
Československá Obchodní Banka a.s. Prague – CZ 100,00 CZR credit institution
CIBANK EAD Sofia – BG 100,00IMAcredit institution
KBC Asset Management NV Brussels – BE 100,00 BELasset management
KBC Autolease NV Leuven – BE 100,00 BELleasing
KBC Bank Ireland Plc. Dublin – IE100,00 IMA credit institution
KBC Commercial Finance NV Brussels – BE 100,00 BEL factoring
KBC Credit Investments NVBrussels – BE 100,00 BEL/GRP investment firm
KBC IFIMA SA Luxembourg – LU 100,00 GRP financing
KBC Securities NV Brussels – BE 100,00 BEL stockbroker
K&H Bank Zrt. Budapest – HU 100,00 IMA credit institution
Loan Invest NV Brussels – BE 100,00 IMA securitisation
United Bulgarian Bank AD Sofia – BG 99,91 IMA credit institution
KBC INSURANCE (GROUP)
KBC Insurance NV Leuven – BE 100,00 BEL/GRP insurance company
ADD NV Heverlee – BE100,00 BELinsurance broker
KBC Group Re SA Luxembourg – LU100,00 GRP reinsurance company
ČSOB Pojišťovna a.s. Pardubice – CZ 100,00 CZRinsurance company
ČSOB Poisťovňa a.s. Bratislava – SK 100,00 IMAinsurance company
DZI (group) Sofia – BG100,00 IMA insurance company
Groep VAB NV Zwijndrecht – BE95,00 BEL driving school/roadside assistance
K&H Biztosító Zrt.Budapest – HU 100,00 IMA insurance company
KBC GROUP
KBC Group NV Brussels – BE 100,00 GRP bank-insurance holding company
KBC Bank (group) various locations 100,00various credit institution
KBC Insurance (group) various locations100,00 various insurance company
KBC Global Services Brussels - BE100,00GRPcost-sharing structure
Discai NV Brussels - BE100,00GRPsoftware company
BEL = Belgium Business Unit, CZR = Czech Republic Business Unit, IMA = International Markets Business Unit, GRP = Group Centre.

KBC Bank NV

KBC Bank is the main subsidiary. Its first home market is Belgium, where it is one of the top three banks, with a 20-25% market share and over three million customers (counting the customers of the subsidiaries in Belgium).Its second home market is Central Europe, served via subsidiaries and investments in the Czech Republic (ČSOB), Slovakia (ČSOB and OTP Banka), Hungary (K&H Bank) and Bulgaria (CIBank and UBB Bank). In all of these countries, KBC Bank is a leading player by market share.It also had a substantial presence in Ireland through its subsidiary KBC Bank Ireland (formerly IIB Bank). The sale of substantially all assets of KBC Bank Ireland to Bank of Ireland was completed on 2 February 2023. In all, KBC Bank has established a presence in some thirty countries.

KBC Project Finance is a subsidiary of KBC Bank, and has been an active player in the non-recourse financing of projects since the early 1990s. Headquartered in Dublin, it also has professionals based in London, Brussels, New York, Hong Kong, and Sydney. Its main business lines are Energy and Infrastructure. This includes financing projects in sectors such as the oil & gas industry, power, renewable energy, and Public-Private Partnership. It has a portfolio in excess of US$5bn, financing approximately 250 projects worldwide.

Notable buildings associated with KBC

Leuven

Antwerp

Kortrijk

Ghent

Brussels

Art collection

The private art collection of KBC is situated in the Rockox House in Antwerp.

Awards

In 2019, Harvard Business Review ranked KBC's CEO Johan Thijs as the 8th best performing CEO in the world.[24]

Controversy

Support for apartheid in South Africa

One of Kredietbank's main shareholders in the postwar period, André Vlerick, was actively involved in public advocacy of the Apartheid-promoting regime of South Africa and support of its circumvention of sanctions.[25]

In April 2018, NGO OpenSecrets, in partnership with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at the Georgetown University Law Center, filed a complaint at the OECD, claiming that KBC and KBL had violated the Organization's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in their dealings with South Africa between 1977 and 1994. According to the complaint, KBC and KBL together "were responsible for facilitating up to 70% of all illegal arms transactions that allowed the apartheid government to secretly buy weapons despite mandatory UN arms sanctions."[26] As part of that process, OpenSecrets and CALS submitted a detailed document to the OECD contact points in Belgium and Luxembourg to support their claim. At the same time, hearings were held on the matter at South Africa's People's Tribunal on Economic Crime led by Zak Yacoob in Johannesburg.[27]

Terms of the 1998 merger

In December 1999, the Brussels commercial court ordered CERA Holding to pay an additional 2.48 billion euros to its cooperative shareholders, based on the finding that their contribution had been undervalued in the 1998 merger.[28]

Investment in coal

KBC has been criticised for its investment policies regarding fossil fuels. According to a 2015 report by Belgian NGO Fairfin KBC invested[29] US$2.4 billion between 2004 and 2014 through loans and emitting shares and obligations. In contrast the money allocated to renewable energy was only US$929 million.

When KBC reviewed its sustainability policy in 2016,[30] the Global Network of Non-governmental organisation cooperating in the field of private banks and sustainability, Banktrack published an analysis acknowledging progress made on fossil fuels, while criticising the exception for the Czech Republic where the bank continues to finance coal,[31] saying “the new general restriction on coal is welcome and positive, however the exception applied to Czech coal companies is concerning."

In 2017 the Belgian Climate Coalition published a report[32] charting the investments in fossil fuel of the four major banks in Belgium (KBC, ING, BNP Paribas and Belfius). In this report they attacked the exception for the Czech Republic as well,saying “the exceptions for coal activities in the Czech Republic don’t comply with the strict deadlines imposed by climate science.”

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Annual Report 2019 . 12 March 2021 . KBC Group.
  2. Web site: Top 20 European banks by market cap, Q4'20. 2021-03-12. www.spglobal.com. en-us.
  3. Web site: Global 2000 - The World's Largest Public Companies 2020. 2021-03-10. Forbes. en.
  4. Web site: European Central Bank . The list of significant supervised entities and the list of less significant institutions . .
  5. Web site: European Central Bank . List of supervised entities . .
  6. Book: Chacun Pour Tous : Le Boerenbond Belge 1890-1990 . Leen Van Molle . Leuven University Press . 1990 . Leuven.
  7. Web site: De Tijd . Aandeelhouderssyndicaat blijft sleutel tot controle Almanij . .
  8. Web site: De Standaard . VIJF. Fernand Collin . .
  9. Web site: People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime . Kredietbank and Kredietbank Luxembourg – Ownership Structures .
  10. Edouard Mambu ma Khenzu. 2006. A Modern History of Monetary and Financial Systems of Congo, 1885-1995. (Lewiston: Edward Mellan).
  11. Web site: History of the German branch . Kbcbank.de . 2013-04-11.
  12. Web site: De Standaard . Bewogen geschiedenis van een boerenbank. .
  13. News: Deighton. Ben. 2011-10-10. UPDATE 3-Qatari royals swoop on Belgian, Luxembourg private banks. en. Reuters. 2020-10-16.
  14. Web site: KBC completes acquisition of Raiffeisen Bank International's Bulgarian operations .
  15. Web site: KBC Bank Bulgaria and UBB have been officially united under the name United Bulgarian Bank AD | United Bulgarian Bank .
  16. Web site: KBC looking to leave Irish banking market with sale of loans to Bank of Ireland . 16 April 2021 . Irish Examiner. 2021-04-16.
  17. Web site: Monument Group . . Hoofdkantoor Cera in Leuven valt in de vastgoedprijzen .
  18. Web site: Flanders Architecture Institute . Hoofdkantoor Cera . Sofie De Caigny . 2020 .
  19. Web site: Jaspers-Eyers Architects . KBC Bank .
  20. Web site: Inventaris Vlaanderen is Erfgoed . Neoclassicistisch herenhuis . Jo Braeken . 2017 .
  21. Web site: Cnockaert Architecture . Kortrijk City Hall .
  22. Web site: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Inventaire du Patrimoine Architectural . Le Stuart .
  23. Web site: De Tijd . Kredietbank vat bouw van nieuw hoofdkwartier aan . .
  24. News: The CEO 100, 2019 Edition. 2019-11-01. Harvard Business Review. 2019-11-09.
  25. Web site: News24 .
    1. Declassified: Apartheid profits - André Vlerick: banker and bigot
    . .
  26. Web site: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre . Apartheid Banks: Civil society groups demand accountability for apartheid profiteers . .
  27. Web site: Huffington Post UK . Apartheid's Bankers To Face Official OECD Complaint . Marc Davies . .
  28. Web site: Wall Street Journal . Court Orders CERA Holding To Pay Shareholders $2.5 Billion . John Carreyrou . .
  29. Web site: Our future undermined . bankwijzer . 3 May 2018.
  30. Web site: KBC Group Sustainability Framework . KBC . 3 May 2018.
  31. Web site: Belgian bank KBC's sustainability policy: a mixed bag . BankTrack . 2016-09-22.
  32. Web site: FOSSIELVRIJE BANKEN IN DE STRIJD TEGEN DE KOOLSTOF- ZEEPBEL . Klimaat Coalitie . 2017-03-30.