Vaulting the bank

24 June 2003

An unseemly row over shareholder rights is raging between the bank, a quoted company, and its minority investors. It’s not the pure pursuit of better corporate governance that has put a rocket under BnB’s shares. It’s the prospect of a pot of gold.

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Belgium's quoted central bank faces several lawsuits lodged by minority investors. They claim that the bank no longer prints money after the introduction of the euro and so should share out its gold and foreign currency reserves to them.

The bank argues that it only manages the reserves on the behalf of the Belgian state and cannot dispose of them as it sees fit. On Monday, the Commercial court of Brussels decided the bank was still the legal owner of its gold reserves, but it did not decide on the extent of those property rights. European shareholder rights group Deminor has lodged a case with the Belgian Supreme Court to try and decide the question.

The Belgian National Bank is a limited liability company whose shares are traded on the Brussels stock exchange. It is 50% owned by the government.

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