KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV is a universal bank based out of Belgium. KBC Group NV, which stands for Kredietbank ABB Insurance CERA Group, is the second largest bancassurer in Belgium and 18th largest bank in Europe and can trace its history back to Volksbank van Leuven and Bremer Vorschussverein, both founded in 1889. The current bank was created out of a merger between two Belgian banks, the Kredietbank and CERA Bank, and a Belgian insurance company, the ABB, creating the KBC Bank and Insurance Holding Company. The group company would begin acting on its expansion policy a year later, acquiring the ?SOB. The company would continue to grow and expand through various acquisitions, merging with a variety of banks and insurance companies in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The KBC Bank and Insurance Holding Company would merge with its parent company Almanij to create the current KBC Group NV in 2005. The newly merged group company would restructure its company and create five major business units: Belgium, Central & Eastern Europe and Russia, Merchant Banking, European Private Banking and Shared Services & Operations, each with its own separate management and objectives. KBC Group NV would continue to expand its presence in Europe, acquiring various companies in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia and establishing a presence in the Russian banking market in 2007. The company would then begin its divestment program in 2010 and restructure itself in 2012, creating four main business units, Belgium, Czech Republic, International Markets, and International Product Factories, and various support units, CFO Services, CRO Services, Corporate Staff, and Corporate Change and Support. KBC Group NV’s assets are allocated across a variety of sectors including information technology, finance, consumer discretionary, health care, consumer staples, industrials, energy, and utilities and telecommunications, among others, in order of decreasing allocation.