Belfius chairman Jos Clijsters told Reuters that the bank has cut down the risky assets that were inherited from Dexia with plans to remain state-owned for the next two years.
Belgium, France and Luxembourg bailed out Dexia in 2011 and Belfius financed its short term liquidity needs of about €56bn ($60.2bn) during its nationalisation phase.
According to the news agency, in February 2015 Dexia had completely weaned itself off Belfius financing.
In 2014, the net profit of the Belgian bank from its banking and insurance business rose to €462m ($497m) by 4%, after utilising €118m to make provisions for a portfolio of bonds as well as loan guarantees.
Belfius’ announcement to drop paying a dividend to Dexia is said to be positive news for the government, which hopes to recover investment of about €4bn that was made in 2011.
Following the collapse, Dexia’s Belgian bank was acquired by the Belgian government, which renamed it Belfius.
The French portions of the bank were acquired with support from the French government, while other Dexia businesses were sold off.
With headquarters in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Brussels, Franco-Belgian financial institution Dexia was active in public finance and provided retail and commercial banking services to individuals and SMEs, asset management, and insurance.
The bank received taxpayer bailouts for €6bn in 2008, and it became the first big casualty of the 2011 European sovereign debt crisis.
Image: Belfius reduces risky assets inherited from Dexia to remain state-owned. Photo: courtesy of patrisyu/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
