Who owns dexia

In , Luxembourg left the Zollverein in favor of a new customs treaty with Belgium—and later formed the Benelux economic unit with the Netherlands.

BIL played a prominent role in the development of Luxembourg as a financial capital, and helped in establishing the Luxembourg stock exchange in Nazi occupation of Luxembourg ended BIL's activity for the duration.

The approach of full European economic union—beginning with the Maastricht treaty of and culminating with the launch of the euro at the end of the decade—signaled the start of a new era of European banking. The CCB's own international expansion began in , when the company set up the Cregem International Bank in Luxembourg, specializing in assets management. CLF started independent activity as a small bank, with just employees and revenues of just FFr 3.

Placed at the head of the CLF, however, was Pierre Richard, who led the government-owned bank into the private arena in , and then became the architect of the bank's growth. As yet no legislation had been provided to create such mergers, however, and any possible unions were fraught with difficulties, ranging from distinct domestic cultures to differing tax and accounting laws. The CCB began looking for a partner within Belgium. A merger was seen as particularly attractive given that CCB had captured 90 percent of Belgium's municipal lending market, while CLF accounted for more than 40 percent of that market in France.

As Richard told Time International: "We were convinced that with the creation of the euro zone, European business conditions would be turned upside down and that it would be necessary for a company to have a European vision and identity. Narmon came to agree with Richard's assessment of the European banking industry's future. In , the two companies announced the formation of a new company as an umbrella for their merger. Yet because of the difficulties in creating a "European" company, the two banks maintained their domestic operations, linking through a complex shareholding exchange.

The bridging name became Dexia, while the company continued to operate under two holding companies, Dexia Belgium and Dexia France—with each company maintaining its former headquarters, management, and staff. Starting out, the new company showed its intention of becoming one of Europe's superbanks, while continuing to focus on its specialty areas of municipal lending, private banking, and assets management, the latter led especially through BIL, which shortly became a full subsidiary, changing its name to Dexia Banque de Luxembourg.

Following a quickly aborted plan to take over French bank CIL, Dexia began a series of acquisitions to boost its position in other EC member countries. The first of these was the acquisition of 40 percent of Italy's Crediop, a municipal lending and public project financing specialist, made in At the same time, Dexia acquired 55 percent of France's Ifax, a insurance provider to local governments. In , the bank increased its insurance activity again, acquiring Elvia Assurances, based in Belgium.

The year marked the turning point for Dexia. In October, the bank announced a unification plan by which Dexia Belgium would acquire Dexia France's shares. Two months later, the bank announced the formation of a single holding company for all of the bank's operations, called Dexia, with headquarters in Brussels and listings on the Brussels, Luxembourg, and Paris stock exchanges.

By the end of that year, Dexia's revenues had topped the FFr 20 billion mark. Dexia continued to show an aggressive appetite for acquisitions. In March the company announced two new purchases. A capital increase in June , raising EUR 2. In March , the company paid EUR 3. At the same time, the company launched a EUR 1. The company also bought a stake—including control of two-thirds of voting rights—in Tel Aviv bank Otzar Hashilton Hamekomi, and then prepared to make a new acquisition in the Czech Republic.

By mid, Dexia was prepared to take a breather, having by then spent more than EUR 9 billion acquiring a major position in the European banking industry—and a leading spot in its municipal lending niche. Yet Dexia was far from finished with its expansion, setting its sights on further development throughout Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom.

Equator Principles goes beyond project finance, improves transparency. New report: European banks fuelling food price volatility and hunger.

French banks: a citizen rating reveals what is going on underneath their activities. Financiers search for sustainable future. Overheid: maak van Dexia een maatschappelijk nuttige bank! Dexia excluded for involvement in Israel. New rules for Equator Principles, but no new commitments from banks New governance rules represent missed chance for Equator Principles to take bold steps forward on transparency and accountability.

Bankruptcy threatens banks operating in Belgium Netwerk Vlaanderen calls to halt investments in coal plants. BankTrack calls upon banks to Close the Gap on investment policies New report evaluates quality of investment policies of 49 banks; more policies in place, overall quality below what is required.

Civil society groups call for bold steps forward with Equator Principles Major reforms needed on transparency, accountability, implementation and climate change. BNP Paribas: very high risk of harmful investments New research from Netwerk Vlaanderen shows need for regulation of the banking industry. Banks shun harmful investments New report shows examples of pioneering banks. New FoE report slams French banks for sad state climate policies. Banks continue to invest in cluster munitions.

No party time for Burmese democrats Action at Belgian banks against investments in Burma. Belgian campaign puts banks under pressure to stop investing in Burma Municipalities for Burma. Belgian bank groups invest in companies that abuse human rights Press Release Netwerk Vlaanderen. Documents Type: all our publications correspondence ngo documents other documents csr policies annual reports bank documents company documents internal campaign documents minutes of meeting bankteach.

Move your money - Belgian campaign website. Good moves ALL Belfius drops Food Speculation Fund Belfius's response to the report by FairFin and others, "'The involvement of Belgian banks in food speculation", was to delete its fund Dexia Fund Commodities from its offer. The performance of this fund was linked to the performance of 24 commodities, and thus had a negative impact on the welfare of the population, mostly….

Stay up to date Sign up now for all BankTrack's news as it happens in one monthly digest. Make a comment Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted. Annual report