Fortis (company)

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FORTIS NV / Fortis SA / NV

logo
legal form NV / SA / NV
ISIN BE0003801181
founding 1990
Seat Utrecht , Netherlands Brussels , BelgiumNetherlandsNetherlands 
BelgiumBelgium 
management
  • Bart de Smet (CEO)
  • Jozef De Mey (Chairman)
Number of employees 85,000 (2007)
sales 120 billion euros (2007)
Branch Financial services
Website www.fortis.com

The Belgian - Dutch Fortis Group, with its headquarters in Brussels (Belgium) and Utrecht (Netherlands), was an international association of financial service providers active in the banking and insurance sectors. Fortis was the largest bank in Belgium and the second largest bank in the Netherlands.

Until October 2008, the bank was one of the twenty largest European financial institutions, with a market value of around 42 billion euros and more than 85,000 employees. In the course of the financial market crisis , Fortis was partially nationalized and divided into a Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourgish part.

development

Foundation of the holding company

The company was created under its current name in 1990 from the merger of two Dutch companies: the insurance company NV AMEV and the VSB Bank . In the same year the important Belgian insurance group AG Group was added. This was the first cross-border merger of financial houses in Europe. The Fortis Group is one of the 10 largest insurance companies in Europe.

Fortis Holding consists of the following two parent companies:

On March 9, 2010, the company announced that it would henceforth be called Ageas .

Acquisitions since 1991

  • 1991: Interlloyd (Dutch insurance company)
  • 1993: Algemene Spaar- en Lijfrentekas (ASLK / CGER)
  • 1995: SNCI-NMKN (Belgian bank)
  • 1997: MeesPierson (Dutch bank) and several insurance companies
  • 1998: Generale Bank (Belgian bank) and John Alden Financial Corporation and Pierce National Life Insurance Company (US insurance companies)
  • 1999: American Bankers Insurance Group, Inc. and Northern Star (insurance companies)
  • 2000: Banque Générale du Luxembourg , Beta Capital and Belgolaise (banks) and American Memorial Life Insurance Company (US insurance company)
  • 2001: CORE, Inc.
  • 2002: Intertrust
  • 2005: Disbank, Dryden Wealth Management and Von Essen GmbH & Co. KG Bankgesellschaft (banks) as well as Outright (insurance company), Affinity Solutions, Atradius Factoring and O'Connor & Co.
  • 2006: Gutingia Lebensversicherung AG (insurance company), Dreieck Industrie Leasing, Innotrade Leasing, Takleasing and Global (leasing companies) as well as Cinergy Marketing & Trading, William Properties, 4 Faktor Sp.zo.o and Dominet
  • 2007: ABN AMRO (together with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Banco Santander )

Acquisitions

On April 11, 2005 Fortis acquired 83 percent of the seventh-largest Turkish private bank Disbank from Doğan Holding . On 4 October 2005, Fortis acquired by the company Prudential Financial , the company Dryden Wealth Management . In 2007 Fortis took part in the largest bank takeover in the world to date: the group acquired the major Dutch bank ABN AMRO together with the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Spanish Santander Bank (BSCH) for 71.8 billion euros .

Activities in Germany

Fortis has been active in Germany since 1920 through the Belgian Generale Bank with headquarters in Cologne, which was taken over in 1998/99. The Luxembourg subsidiary BGL opened business customer offices in Trier and Saarbrücken in 2002.

Fortis has been active in the German insurance market since November 2006 with Fortis Deutschland Lebensversicherung AG . This insurance now operates under the name "myLife Lebensversicherung AG".

After the takeover of Von Essen GmbH & Co. KG Bankgesellschaft , the concept of “credit shops” has been implemented under the Credit4me brand since June 2006 . On May 1, 2008, Fortis Credit4me GmbH was renamed Fortis Finanz GmbH ; the product range was expanded beyond pure financing. On January 14, 2009, the company announced that the "Fortis Finanz" sales channel will be discontinued with immediate effect and that around 90 shops will be closed. About 340 employees are affected by this measure.

The remaining Fortis operating shares (Fortis Bank, Fortis Investments and Von Essen Bank) were temporarily taken over by the Belgian state and continued to operate for the time being.

Splitting up

Financial crisis

In 2007, the Fortis Group participated in the world's largest bank takeover ( ABN AMRO ), based on the purchase price (71 billion euros), which took place in October 2007. The sub-prime crisis made Fortis difficult to finance its share of EUR 24 billion for ABN AMRO Benelux activities. After the funds planned for the takeover could only be acquired through asset sales in the meanwhile strongly defensive financial market, Fortis CEO Jean Votron resigned on July 11, 2008 . The market value of Fortis had been three-thirds compared to the level before the takeover and was below the price that was paid for the activities of ABN AMRO. On September 23, 2008, successor Herman Verwilst said that Fortis was not yet in danger of bankruptcy. After the share price plummeted, CEO Verwilst resigned on September 26, 2008. His successor is Filip Dierckx.

On September 28, 2008 it was announced that the governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands would take over large parts of the group for 11 billion euros as a result of the financial crisis from 2007 onwards .

At the end of March 2009 it was announced that the Fortis Group had made a loss of approx. 22 billion euros in the 2008 financial year.

Splitting up

On October 4, 2008, the Dutch part of the Fortis Group (ABN AMRO, Fortis Bank Nederland Holding NV , ASR Nederland ) was taken over 100 percent by the Netherlands for 16.8 billion euros. The insurance company operates as ASR Nederland and the banking division is part of Fortis Bank Nederland (Holding) NV .

In fact, the Fortis Group was split geographically into two companies along the Belgian-Dutch border . This was necessary because the Dutch part of the bank, in contrast to the Belgian part, was heavily affected by outflows.

After the Luxembourg state took over a 49.9 percent stake in Fortis Banque Luxembourg , the banking division will operate under the name of BGL Société Anonyme from December 22, 2008 . The insurance division operates as Fortis Assurance Luxembourg , which is part of Ageas Insurance International of Ageas Holding.

After Belgium and BNP Paribas agreed on a new plan to break up the Fortis Holding on the night of March 6, 2009, Luxembourg and BNP Paribas also agreed to join BGL SA . The Luxembourg state intends to keep 34% of the capital for the time being. After the conclusion of various transactions in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, following resolutions at the Board of Directors meeting on May 13, 2009, the BNP Paribas Group has become the majority shareholder of BGL. It now controls - directly and indirectly through Fortis Bank - 65.96% of the bank's capital. The Luxembourg state still has a 34% stake.

Belgium

The French bank BNP Paribas announced on October 6, 2008 that it would take over the Belgian banking division of Fortis Bank Belgium SA. Fortis Bank Belgium was renamed BNP Paribas Fortis after the takeover by the major French bank BNP Paribas on May 12, 2009 .

Other Fortis companies

Fortis Holding no longer carries out banking transactions. At the end of 2008 it had issued fixed-income securities worth EUR 43.6 billion.

There is also Fortis Bank Nederland and the insurance companies ASR Nederland and Amlin Corporate Insurance (formerly Fortis Corporate Insurance ) in the Netherlands.

In 2008, the discontinued banking activities resulted in losses of 29.4 billion euros. Fortis Bank Belgium will account for 20.8 billion euros of this. The Fortis Group's turnover fell from 120 billion euros in 2007 to 14.6 billion euros in 2008. The Belgian government is only willing to provide a risk shield for Fortis' risky securities if a takeover of Fortis Bank Belgium is not stopped by the shareholders.

Sponsorship

The company was active as a sponsor of numerous clubs, including a. at Feyenoord Rotterdam , where the bank first appeared as the main sponsor in the 2004/05 season. At that time the company was already a sponsor of clubs such as RSC Anderlecht , Spirou BC Charleroi and Noliko Maaseik .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ BNP Paribas takes control of Fortis , DeRedactie.be, October 6, 2008
  2. crisis banks Dexia and Fortis Luxury Party in Monaco ( Memento of 14 October 2008 at the Internet Archive )
  3. History ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , de.fortis.com, accessed October 9, 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.de.fortis.com
  4. Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.de.fortis.com
  5. http://www.lalibre.be/economie/actualite/article/567963/fortis-holding-devient-ageas.html
  6. A moving story  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Tageblatt, September 30, 2008@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / news.tageblatt.lu  
  7. Online offer of the Financial Times Deutschland ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  8. http://www.fondsprofessionell.de/redsys/artikelText.php?kat=&ausg=1/09&offset=&sid=909765
  9. Fortis closes Germany subsidiary ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  10. ^ Fortis chief executive out; chairman now faces shareholder anger , International Herald Tribune, July 13, 2008.
  11. Fortis en faillite? ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Trends.be, September 23, 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.trends.be
  12. Brussels: Fortis boss resigns after share price crash , ZEIT online, September 26, 2008
  13. ↑ The Benelux countries save Fortis financial giants with a billion-dollar injection. , in: Spiegel online , September 28, 2008
  14. Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / boerse.ard.de
  15. http://www.minfin.nl/english/News/Newsreleases/2008/11/Two_strong_insurance_companies_and_one_strong_bank
  16. http://www.fortis.com/press/info/UK_PR_Fortis_03102008.pdf
  17. A l'issue d'une année 2008 très turbulente, BGL annonce un résultat positif de l'ordre d'EUR 30 millions ( Memento of March 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Press release January 22, 2009
  18. Archived copy ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fortis.lu
  19. Fortis Luxembourg is mentioned on the homepage ( Memento of March 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) of Fortis Insurance International.
  20. Agreement to break up Fortis Holding ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wort.lu
  21. UPDATE 1-Fortis asset sale to BNP cleared with Dutch OK Bloomberg April 29, 2009
  22. The story ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bgl.lu
  23. Annual Report 2008 ( Memento of March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) - page 22
  24. ^ Acquisition of Fortis Corporate Insurance NV June 3rd 2009
  25. ^ Annual Report 2008 ( Memento of March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) - page 1 middle
  26. Manager Magazin - Farewell with a 28 billion minus from March 31, 2009
  27. a b Fortis new main sponsor of Feyenoord Rotterdam  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed April 8, 2011@1@ 2Template: dead link / rsca.be  

Web links

Commons : Fortis  - collection of images, videos and audio files