National Bank of Belgium
Nationale Bank van België (in Dutch)
Banque nationale de Belgique (in French)
Belgische Nationalbank (in German)
HeadquartersBrussels
Established5 May 1850
OwnershipGovernment of Belgium (50%)
Public float (50%)[1]
Traded as:
Euronext Brussels: BNB
GovernorPierre Wunsch
Central bank ofBelgium
Reserves8 450 million USD[1]
Succeeded byEuropean Central Bank (1999)1
Websitewww.nbb.be
1 The National Bank of Belgium still exists but many functions have been taken over by the ECB.

The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; Dutch: Nationale Bank van België, French: Banque nationale de Belgique, German: Belgische Nationalbank) is the Belgian member of the Eurosystem and has been the monetary authority for Belgium from 1850 to 1998, albeit with interruptions during the two world wars, issuing the Belgian franc. Since 2014, it has also been Belgium's national competent authority within European Banking Supervision.[2]

The National Bank was established by a law of 5 May 1850, originally with entirely private capital. It remains one of relatively few central banks whose equity capital is partly in private hands, as 50% of its stock (400.000 shares in total) is freely traded on Euronext Brussels, while the other 50% are owned by the Belgian government.

Additional tasks of the National Bank of Belgium include the management of foreign currency reserves; the collection, circulation and analysis of economic and financial information; a role of financial ambassador to international economic and financial bodies; and services for the Belgian State, the Belgian financial sector, and the general public. In the area of financial market infrastructure, the NBB stands out as supervisor of both Euroclear and SWIFT.

History

The National Bank was created by Minister Walthère Frère-Orban in 1850 with a unique hybrid status: in the form of a limited company, but with the main objective to carry out missions of general interest entrusted to it by legislation of 5 May 1850. It came from a protracted process of negotiation with the Société Générale de Belgique (SGB) and the Banque de Belgique, until then the two main financial institutions in the country which had been negatively impacted by financial turmoil since 1848. Both became shareholders of the new National Bank. Initially it was mainly an issuing and discounting bank, leaving the business of longer-term credit and investment to the SGB and others. As part of the same train of reform, Frère-Orban established the Caisse générale de retraite, which later became the Caisse Générale d'Épargne et de Retraite.

On 26 August 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I, minister of Finance Michel Levie ordered the National Bank to send its reserve assets to London. In retaliation, the German occupier force withdrew the National Bank's issuing privileges by decree of 20 November 1914, and entrusted it to the SGB instead. The SGB, however, still used the National Bank's printing presses. Once the war was over, the National Bank regained its issuing privileges.

At the start of World War II, the National Bank again left Belgium and initially relocated to France. Its gold and currency reserves were moved, first to the branch of the Bank of France in Poitiers, then to London via Bordeaux. The National Bank, however, returned to Belgium a few weeks later, in line with the Galopin doctrine which recommended economic collaboration with the German occupation forces as a lesser evil.

Following the turmoil that affected Fortis and Dexia in late 2008, an overhaul of financial regulation in Belgium led to the closure of the Belgian Banking Commission and the entrusting of prudential supervision to the National Bank, while the Financial Services and Markets Authority was created to take over the oversight of market integrity and conduct-of-business regulation.

The printing works of the National Bank closed its doors in August 2020, and the building that hosted them in the center of Brussels was sold in 2021.[3] Since then, the BNB no longer prints euro banknotes itself. At the end of 2020, the Bank had 1,680 full-time equivalent workers.

In September 2022, the quotation of the NBB stock was suspended after its stock price collapsed due to information that the bank would make losses.[4]

Buildings

Brussels

The National Bank was initially located on Rue Royale at the corner of what is now the rue du Moniteur, in a building that is no longer extant.[5] In 1859, it acquired properties on nearby rue du Bois Sauvage, and commissioned architects Hendrik Beyaert and Wynand Janssens to design a new building. Construction work started in 1860, with sections opened in 1865 and the whole building completed in 1874 and interior decoration finishing in 1878.[6][7] That building was subsequently repurposed as the formal apartment of the National Bank's governor until 1957, and is still known as the (French: Hôtel du Gouverneur).[8]

The entire block was remodeled in the mid-20th century with a state-of-the-art complex built for the bank as part of the broader transportation and urban transformation project known as the North–South connection. Architect Marcel Van Goethem was appointed project architect on 1 February 1940, but the reconstruction process was suspended during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II and construction work only started in 1946. The new building features a 200-meters-long monumental Stripped Classicism façade on Boulevard de Berlaimont and a monumental banking hall. The initial plans foresaw the demolition of the Hôtel du Gouverneur, but preservationists won the decision to keep it standing in 1948. The construction works were eventually completed in 1958. The complex designed by Van Goethem includes the printing presses building on the other side of the Boulevard de Berlaimont, connected to the main headquarters by an underground tunnel. It features exterior sculpture by Marcel Rau, including aluminium figures of Mercury, Minerva, and Vulcan above the bank's entrance on the Boulevard de Berlaimont; and two bronze statues of kneeling women, respectively by George Grard on the southern side and Charles Leplae to the north.[8]

In 1982, the National Bank opened its own museum in the Hôtel du Gouverneur. In 2018, the museum moved to new premises in the former 1872 headquarters of the Union du Crédit de Bruxelles, a cooperative bank, which the National Bank had purchased in 1979 and renovated in the 2000s. The ground floor and first floor of the Hôtel du Gouverneur are still preserved in a state close to that in the 1870s and are used by the National Bank as a venue for events. It features sculpture by Guillaume de Groot, Jean Schoonjans and Édouard Fiers, and painted ceilings by Joseph Stallaert and Faustin Besson.[7]

Branches

The National Bank used to maintain branches and offices throughout the country as well as Luxembourg, reaching a total of 43 locations between 1936 and 1974.[9] The branch in Antwerp was an opulent eclectic building designed by Hendrik Beyaert, the architect of the bank's main office in Brussels.

In Luxembourg, following a bilateral agreement of 23 May 1935 modifying the terms of the Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union, the National Bank on 16 August 1935 purchased a urban mansion that had been erected in 1882-1883 on a design by local architect Oscar Belanger, on 43 avenue Monterey. After renovation, that building opened to the public on 2 November 1936 as the National Bank's Luxembourg office (French: agence), was elevated in 1963 to the status of branch (French: succursale), then closed on 31 December 1998 after the creation of the Central Bank of Luxembourg (BCL) had made it redundant. The BCL acquired the building on 8 May 2001 and had it demolished in 2003 to erect a new facility known as the Monterey Building, inaugurated in 2007.[10]

The National Bank gradually shed its network of branches from 1974 onward, as they no longer served an operational purpose.[9] The prominent Antwerp branch closed on 30 September 2013.[11] The last two branches, in Kortrijk and Liège, were closed in 2018.[12][13] The National Bank retains several buildings in central Brussels. In 2023 it announces plans for comprehensive renovation, on a design by firms KAAN Architecten and LOW Architecten, combined with the construction of a cash logistics center in Zellik, an outer northwestern suburb of Brussels.[3]

Leadership

Meeting of the Administrative Council of the National Bank (1918) by Herman Richir

Governors

Vice-Governors

(List to be expanded)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Weidner, Jan (2017). "The Organisation and Structure of Central Banks" (PDF). Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek.
  2. ↑ "National supervisors". ECB Banking Supervision.
  3. 1 2 "La Banque nationale va rénover son siège d'ici 2030". National Bank of Belgium. 29 June 2023.
  4. ↑ "Bourse de Bruxelles: l'action de la BNB suspendue". Le Soir (in French). 21 September 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  5. 1 2 Pierre Kauch (1964), Les bâtiments de la Banque Nationale de Belgique à Bruxelles (PDF), National Bank of Belgium
  6. ↑ "Un bâtiment historique". Museum of the National Bank of Belgium.
  7. 1 2 l'Hôtel du gouverneur (PDF), National Bank of Belgium, 2023
  8. 1 2 Stéfane Antoine (26 February 2021). "Marcel Van Goethem, l'architecte du siège principal de la Banque nationale". National Bank of Belgium.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Historique des sièges (PDF), National Bank of Belgium, 2021
  10. ↑ René Link (2016), Chronique de l'immeuble « Monterey » (PDF), Banque Centrale du Luxembourg
  11. ↑ "Le siège d'Anvers de la Banque nationale de Belgique arrêtera ses services au public le 30 septembre 2013". National Bank of Belgium. 17 June 2013.
  12. ↑ "La Banque nationale ferme l'agence de Courtrai". National Bank of Belgium. 29 November 2018.
  13. ↑ "La Banque nationale ferme la succursale de Liège". National Bank of Belgium. 31 December 2018.
  14. ↑ La Banque Nationale, son histoire locale (1851-2018) - sa succursale liégeoise (PDF), National Bank of Belgium, 2021
  15. 1 2 "Pierre Wunsch – nbb.be". www.nbb.be.

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