Belgium

Athens has “annoyed” and “frustrated” its eurozone partners with combative negotiating tactics, said Belgium’s finance minister, who warned Greece that the single currency could safely ride out its exit, the Financial Times reported. Johan Van Overtveldt, an economist who took charge of the finance ministry in the eurozone’s sixth-largest economy in October, said the currency bloc had sufficient safeguards in place to endure a Greek departure, adding he believed other ministers shared this view.

The Swiss private banking arm of HSBC has been charged by Belgian authorities with assisting wealthy individuals to avoid paying taxes on several billion dollars in assets, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. A Belgian investigating magistrate judge has charged the unit, HSBC Private Bank (Suisse), with serious and organized tax fraud, money laundering and unlawful exercise of the profession of financial intermediary, according to a statement by the Brussels prosecutor’s office. The activity under scrutiny occurred from 2003 to the present, prosecutors said.

Belgian law firm Deminor said it had been contacted by 15 to 20 investment firms considering legal action over the failure of OW Bunker, the world's largest shipping firm which filed for bankruptcy a week ago, Reuters reported. Deminor, which specialises in representing institutional investors in class actions against public listed companies, did not say on Friday which investors had contacted it and gave no further detail on possible actions over the company's collapse. OW Bunker, Denmark's the third-largest company by revenue, said on Nov.

Italy and France backed away from a clash with the European Commission over their 2015 budgets on Monday by pledging extra measures to cut their deficits, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move comes after the commission, the European Union’s executive arm, warned Rome and Paris last week that their budget plans would violate its fiscal rules.

Belgian financial institution KBC appeared to rule itself out yesterday from any interest in a link-up with Ulster Bank in the Republic as part of the strategic review being carried out by that bank’s parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland, the Irish Times reported. In a presentation to investors, KBC made clear that it plans to plough an independent furrow in Ireland until it is back in profit here in 2016. “For Ireland, KBC’s first priority is to become profitable from 2016 onwards.

KBC Bank Ireland chief executive John Reynolds is to step down after almost 30 years with the company, the Irish Times reported. The Belgian lender also announced it would need to make a provision of up to €775 million in the fourth quarter for potentially lost loans and mortgages in its Irish loan book. This was as a result of moving restructured mortgages from a non-impaired status to an impaired status, it said. In a statement this morning, the bank said Mr Reynolds, who has been chief executive of the company for four years, is leaving to pursue other interests.

Belgian financial group Dexia has entered into exclusive talks with New York Life Investments to sell its asset management unit, it said late on Thursday. The group, which has to sell Dexia Asset Management as part of a deal with European regulators in exchange for state aid it received in recent years, did not say how much New York Life Investments planned to offer. Dexia had initially agreed to sell the asset management arm to Hong Kong-based GCS Capital for 380 million euros ($507 million), but that deal fell through in July.

Greece’s announcement Monday that it ran a primary surplus for the first seven months of this year – a key condition for further help from Athens’ euro zone partners — is set to intensify a debate that has been bubbling in the background for some time: How should the currency union deal with the still-massive debt loads of some of its members?

KBC Bank Ireland recorded a €69 million loss after tax and charges for impaired loans for the three months to the end of June, the Irish Times reported. This was down from €96 million in same period last year. The Belgian lender said Irish loan impairments for the second quarter fell to €88 million from €99 million the previous quarter, and €136 million in the corresponding period last year. KBC said, however, it continues to see a “mild increase” in arrears.

Fairness. Everyone loves being fair, right? So who can resist a fairness tax? Not the Belgian government, The Wall Street Journal Brussels Beat blog reported. In late-night negotiations to trim billions off the country’s budget and meet European Union goals, the usual tweaks (more duty on cigarettes, some cuts to defense spending) were accompanied by this shiny new tax, presented by finance minister Koen Geens.