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Subsequent to Belgium's Royal Decree of 14
November 2008, there is now a twofold protection structure for
savings. Besides the Protection Fund for Deposits and Financial
Instruments (“Fonds de Protection des Dépôts et des Instruments
Financiers”), a Special Protection Fund for Deposits and Life
Insurance ("Fonds Spécial de Protection des Dépôts et des
Assurances sur la Vie") has been set up within the country's
Deposit and Consignment Office ("Caisse des Dépôts et
Consignations").
The overview of this is as follows:
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Bank liabilities
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Financial instruments issued by another debtor
that the bank cannot return.
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Branche/Tak 21 life insurance
If the insurance firm is a member
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Protection Fund for Deposits and Financial
Instruments
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50,000
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20,000
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0
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Special Protection Fund for Deposits and Life
Insurance
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50,000
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0
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100,000
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Total
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100,000
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20,000
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100,000
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1. Protection Fund for Deposits and Financial Instruments
Third-party funds
Article 30 of the regulations covering
Financial Instruments and Deposit Protection Funds set down in
accordance with the law dated 17 December 1998, covers the
guarantee of third-party accounts for all professionals who are not
in the financial professions, such as notaries, lawyers, and
bailiffs.
30. Assets registered in accounts opened on
behalf of professionals who are not in the financial professions,
and that are exclusively used for the holding and transfer of
third-party funds are only recognised as receivables that belong to
these third parties if the accounts are sub-headed on behalf of
these third parties in the accounting system of the custodial
institution or if their share is established by the account holder
on the basis of communication occurring during payments, transfers
and withdrawals.
As regards individual third-party accounts,
made up exclusively of third-party funds, each headed third party
will have coverage of EUR 100,000 (2x 50,000) in total, which will
also cover any other deposits with the same bank.
As regards collective third-party accounts,
made up exclusively of third-party funds, each third party will
have coverage of EUR 100,000 (2x 50,000) if its share is created by
the account holder (notaries, lawyers, bailiffs) on the basis of
communication occurring during payments, transfers and
withdrawals.
Assets belonging to companies of notaries, bailiffs and
lawyers
The protection of deposits which is valid
for individuals is also applied to small
companies (= companies with a simplified balance sheet). Article 15
of Belgian Corporate Law defines a small company as being one which
has a legal personality and which did not, during the previous two
closed accounting years, fulfil more than one of the following
criteria:
Average annual staff numbers: 50
Annual turnover (excl. VAT): €7,300,000
Balance sheet total: €3,650,000
If the average annual staff number is over 100,
then the company cannot be considered as a small company.
2. Special Protection Fund for Deposits and Life Insurance
The rules for the activities of the Special
Protection Fund for Deposits and Life Insurance have not yet been
established. Royal decrees and regulations for its activities are
still required.
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