KBC Bank

Infobox Company
company_name = KBC Group NV
company_
company_type = Public (LuxSE|KBC, Euronext|KBC)
foundation = 1998
location = Brussels, Belgium
industry = Financial Services
products = Banking and insurance
revenue = €13.271billion (2007)
profit = €3.403billion (2007)
num_employees ≈ 57,000
num_customers ≈ 11 million
cost to income = 58% (Banking, 2007)
ROE = 18,5% (2007)
homepage = [http://www.kbc.com/ www.kbc.com]
key_people = Jan Huyghebaert (Chairman of the board), André Bergen (CEO), Herman Agneessens (CFRO), Chris Defrancq (COO)
intl = yes

KBC Bank NV is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises. Besides retail banking, insurance and asset management activities (in collaboration with sister companies KBC Insurance NV and KBC Asset Management NV), KBC is active in european debt capital markets, domestic cash equity markets and in the field of corporate banking, leasing, factoring, re-insurance, private equity and project and trade finance in Belgium, Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere (mainly in Europe).

The parent company, KBC Group NV, is one of the major companies and the second largest bancassurer in Belgium. It is the 18th largest bank in Europe (by Market Cap) and a major financial player in Central and Eastern Europe, employing some 57,000 staff worlwide (of which 32,000 in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) and serving 11 million customers worlwide (some 8 million in Central and Eastern Europe).

The group is controlled by a syndicate of core shareholders, but has a free float of some 41%. In the core shareholders, CERA/KBC Ancora group controls 30%, MRBB (a farmers' association) controls around 12% and a group of industrialist families controls another 12%. The free float was chiefly held by a large variety of international institutional investors (close to 45% UK-or US-based) as of end of 2007. Its market capitalisation in 1 August 2008 was €24bn. Its shares are traded on the Euronext exchange in Brussels (Bloomberg L.P. - KBC BB & Reuters - KBKBT BR) and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in Luxembourg City.

The group's overall aim is to be an independent, medium-sized provider of bancassurance for private clients and enterprises in selected European countries, with expertise in asset management and infinancial markets.

History

In 1889, the Catholic "Volksbank van Leuven" was founded, the earliest predecessor of the KBC Bank. In 1935, the banks "Algemeene Bankvereeniging" and "Volksbank van Leuven" merged with the "Bank voor Handel en Nijverheid" to create the Kredietbank. The Kredietbank would be the only Belgian financial institution under Flemish control which would survive the financial crisis of the great depression of the 1930s. Fernand Collin, who became president in 1938, conceived the business strategy which would lead to the growth of the bank. He defined the Kredietbank as an independent bank with a decidedly Flemish character which would be an instrument to further Flemish economic growth.

During World War II, the bank would be able to expand its activities and grow its deposits from the Flemish middle class. After the war, because of the economic recovery, the Kredietbank, now the third largest bank in Belgium, was able to increase the number of operating branches in Flanders. The postwar growth strategy of the bank, emphasized foreign expansion and the development of portfolio-management services for investors. The bank expanded into Luxembourg in 1949 with the "Kredietbank S.A. Luxembourgeoise" and into Wallonia with the establishement of the "Crédit Général de Belgique" in 1961. The Kredietbank also expanded into Belgian Congo and established branches in Leopoldville, Bukavu, Elizabethville and Stanleyville. Due the situation emerging after the independence of Belgian Congo in 1960, the bank had to discontinue its operations in Congo in 1966.

In the sixties, driven by increasing competition, the bank worked on the expansion of its branch network and improvement of consumer services. In 1966, the bank began building a foreign-correspondent network and the establishment of foreign branches in New York, London, the Cayman Islands, and a subsidiary in Geneva, the "Kredietbank (Suisse) S.A.". In 1970, together with six other European institutions The Kredietbank established the Inter-Alpha Group of Banks.

In 1998, the Kredietbank merged with two financial institutions originating from the "Boerenbond" (E: Belgian Catholic Farmers Association) , ABB-insurance and CERA Bank, to form the 'KBC Bank and Insurance Holding Company'. Since then, the group has significantly expanded its activities, chiefly in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2005, KBC set another milestone by merging with its parent company, Almanij, and changing its name to KBC Group NV.

Over the past decade, KBC has built up a strong presence in many of the countries that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 (Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics) by investing some 7.4 billion euros in acquisitions. More recently (2007), KBC has made acquisitions in Bulgaria (DZI Insurance, DZI Invest and EIBANK), Romania (KBC Securities Romania, Romstal Leasing and INK Insurance Broker), Russia (Absolut Bank), Serbia (KBC Banka and Senzal, now KBC Securities AD Beograd, Hipobroker, now KBC Broker, and Bastion, now KBC Securities Corporate Finance) and Slovakia (Istrobanka).

tructure and main subsidiaries

KBC Group NV is the direct parent company of:
*KBC Bank NV
*KBC Insurance NV
*KBC Asset Management NV
*Kredietbank SA Luxembourgeoise
*Value Source Technologies, Chennai, INDIA

All other KBC Group companies are direct or indirect subsidiaries of these.

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), Hungary (K&H Bank), Poland (Kredyt Bank) and Slovenia (Nova Ljubljanska Banka). Wtih effect from July 2008, KBC Bank has acquired another small Slovakian Bank, Istrobanka [ [http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/31253/3/istrobanka_bought_by_csob_owner.html Istrobanka bought by ČSOB owner - The Slovak Spectator ] ] . In practically all of these countries, KBC Bank is a top-3 player by market share.It also has a substantial presence in Ireland through its subsidiary IIB Bank, which is a major player in both the corporate and residential mortgage markets there. In all, KBC Bank has established a presence in some thirty countries around the globe.

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.

KBC Bank also has investment banking operations in Europe, US and Asia. A specialist arm called KBC Financial Products operates primarily in global convertible bonds; its branch in Japan is called KBC Securities Japan, which specialises in secondary equity broking, convertible bonds, warrants, and equity derivatives.

Kredietbank SA Luxembourgeoise (KBL)

KBL, based in Luxemburg, provides tailor-made private banking services to customers throughout Western Europe via its network of subsidiaries.

Members of the group currently include Puilaetco Dewaay (Belgium), Michaux Gestion SA (France), Merck Finck & Co. (Germany), Brown, Shipley & Co. (Great Britain), Banca KBL Fumagalli Soldan Spa (Italy), Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers NV (The Netherlands), and Kredietbank Suisse SA (Switzerland). Banco Urquijo SA (Spain) is also a member, although in May 2006 the group said it had agreed to sell this company to Banco Sabadell. Subject to regulatory clearance, the sale is to be completed during the third quarter of 2006.

References

* Van der Wee, Herman and Van der Wee-Verbreyt, Monique, "People Make History: The Kredietbank and the Economic Rise of Flanders, 1935-1985", Brussels, Kredietbank, 1985.

KBC Investor Day 2008 Press release

KBC General Presentation Autumn 2008

ee also

* Remi Vermeiren, former president
* Paul Borghgraef
* Paul Bostoen
* Luc Debaillie
* Frank Donck
* Theodoros Roussis
* Alain Tytgadt
* Jozef Van Waeyenberge
* Philippe Vlerick

External links

* [https://www.kbc.com/MISC/D9e01 KBC Group official website]