Belgium

Since 8 August, Belgian taxpayers have been able to declare untaxed income and assets through a new procedure for fiscal regularisation

Belgium’s impact investing sector has plenty of untapped potential, says Pierre Harkay, CEO of Impact Finance Belgium.

Just two weeks ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has sharply criticized the alliance’s proposed five-percent-of-GDP defense target, calling it a “collective irrationality” that risks overwhelming European decision-making.

ABN Amro is raising the entry threshold for private banking in the Netherlands from 500,000 to 1 million euros as of 1 June. In Belgium, the Dutch bank is rebranding its private banking arm under the MeesPierson label, part of a broader ambition to become a top-three player in the four countries where it offers wealth services: the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany.

A new spring brings new developments regarding the reclaiming of the flat-rate foreign tax credit (FBB) on French dividends.

The Belgian UCI tax on Luxembourg funds remains a longstanding point of contention between the two countries. However, a recent ruling by the Ghent Court of Appeal has delivered significant legal and tax advantages for Luxembourg Sicavs.

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.