With the sale of Degroof Petercam Belgium is left in the dust

With Degroof Petercam, Belgium has once again lost an important financial player to a foreign competitor. “Unfortunately, Belgium has become a third-rate asset manager.” With the sale of Degroof Petercam to the French Crédit Agricole, a Belgian Financial player has once again passed into foreign hands. With this acquisition, Belgium will lose an important private bank, an experienced asset manager and an active mediator on the Belgian financial markets, or what is left of it. ” It is unfortunate for Belgium as a financial decision-making centre that a major financial player is once again falling into foreign hands, ” says Thomas Tilley, senior economist at the European Association for funds and asset management (EFAMA). “Belgium risks losing knowledge and decision – making power in fund and asset management. And there is not much of that know-how in Brussels. Although it is still coffee grounds to see how it will evolve in this particular case.” All scenarios are still possible for the Belgian activities of Degroof Petercam. It is possible that the fund activities will simply remain in Belgium, that a large part of them will move to Paris, that they will be sold, or everything in between. Examples of such [...]

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