Belgium

Czech Banka Creditas has made a binding takeover bid for the Maltese group over online bank MeDirect. Behind Banka Creditas is relatively unknown billionaire Pavel Hubáček.

The largest maturity date in Belgium’s financial history. That is how Peter Adams, CEO of ING Belgium, describes today’s expiry of the much-debated one-year state note, on 4 September.

Nagelmackers, Belgium’s oldest bank, is set to be acquired by La Caisse d’Epargne Hauts de France, a regional bank under the umbrella of the French banking group BPCE.

Luxembourg-domiciled Ucits investment funds for retail investors have become the most widely used funds in the Belgian market, the head of Belgian asset management association Beama said on Wednesday.

Antwerp-based asset manager Merit Capital will lose its Belgian brokerage licence, according to a judgement by Belgium’s Council of State published on 26 April. Merit Capital has been struggling for years with its governance model and profitability. Having its license revoked casts a cloud over its arrangement with Frankfurt-based Renell Bank, which announced in October it had agreed to acquire Merit subject to conditions.

In a number of recent judgements, the Court of Appeal in Brussels has confirmed previous case law of the court of first instance that the subscription tax on Luxembourg SICAVs is in violation of the double taxation treaty. Tiberghien Lawyers was one of the first to raise this issue 15 years ago and is therefore pleased with the verdicts.

‘It’s worth investigating the possibilities of reclaiming this tax (and Belgian withholding tax),’ say Lawyers Yannick Cools and Bart De Cock of Tiberghien Lawyers.