National Bank of Belgium
The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; Dutch: Nationale Bank van België, French: Banque nationale de Belgique, German: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% private capital by a law of 5 May 1850 as a naamloze vennootschap (NV). It is a member of the European System of Central Banks. Until 1999 and 2002, the national central bank was responsible for issuing the first old original classic former national Belgian currency, the Belgian franc. Its functions, responsibilities, duties, and powers were taken over by the European Central Bank (ECB) when it became part of it when it adopted the Euro Currency on 1 January, 1999 digitally and on 1 January, 2002 physically.
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Headquarters | Brussels |
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Established | 5 May 1850 |
Ownership | Government of Belgium (50%) Public float (50%)[1] Traded as: Euronext: BNB |
Governor | Pierre Wunsch |
Central bank of | Belgium |
Reserves | 8 450 million USD[1] |
Succeeded by | European Central Bank (1999)1 |
Website | www |
1 The National Bank of Belgium still exists but many functions have been taken over by the ECB. |
The Governor of the National Bank is a member of the Governing Council, the main decision-making body of the Eurosystem, particularly as regards monetary policy; the National Bank of Belgium participates in the preparation and execution of its decisions.
Apart from monetary policy, the National Bank of Belgium takes on other tasks which can be classified as follows:
- the issuing of euro banknotes
- the printing of euro banknotes and the placing in circulation of euro coins
- the management of foreign currency reserves
- the collection, circulation and analysis of economic and financial information
- the stability of the Belgian financial sector – see also CBFA
- the role of financial ambassador to international economic institutions
- services for the Belgian State
- services for the Belgian financial sector
- services for the general public
50% of the NBB stock is freely traded on Euronext Brussels, the other 50% of the shares are owned by the Belgian government. (400.000 shares in total)