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The followinglist of banks in Belgium is to be understood within the framework of theEuropean single market andEuropean banking union, which means thatBelgium's banking system is more open to cross-border banking operations than peers outside of the EU.
European banking supervision distinguishes betweensignificant institutions (SIs) andless significant institutions (LSIs), with SI/LSI designations updated regularly by theEuropean Central Bank (ECB). Significant institutions are directly supervised by the ECB using joint supervisory teams that involve thenational competent authorities (NCAs) of individual participating countries. Less significant institutions are supervised by the relevant NCA on a day-to-day basis, under the supervisory oversight of the ECB.[1] In Belgium's case, the NCA is theNational Bank of Belgium.[2]
As of 1 September 2025, the list of supervised institutions maintained by the ECB included the following five Belgian banking groups as SIs, with names as indicated by the ECB for each group's consolidating entity:[3]
In addition to these, other euro-area-based banking groups have significant operations in the country. A study published in 2024 assessed that the largest bank by assets in Belgium (as opposed to total consolidated assets) at end-2023 wasBNP Paribas (€374 billion, viaBNP Paribas Fortis andFintro [fr]), followed by KBC (€225 billion), Belfius (€179 billion),ING Group (€128 billion), Argenta (€60 billion), Crelan (€54 billion), BNY (€40 billion), andCrédit Mutuel (€10 billion, viaBeobank).[4]: 27–29 BPCE andCrédit Agricole are also present via their respective acquisitions ofBanque Nagelmackers andDegroof Petercam in 2024. Belgium is also home to subsidiaries of other euro-area significant institutions, namelyMDB Group andUniCredit. By contrast,Euroclear Bank, whose balance sheet grew rapidly to more than €200 billion as a consequence of theEuropean Union sanctions againstRussia which wereintroduced in late February 2022, remains designated by the ECB as a LSI.[3]
As of 1 September 2025, the ECB's list of supervised institutions included 17 Belgian LSIs.[3]
Of these, three were designated as "high-impact" on the basis of several criteria including size:
Two additional entities owned by Euroclear Holding SA/NV, international central securities depositoryEuroclear Bank and intermediate holding company Euroclear SA, meet the criteria for SI designation but have been classified by the ECB as LSIs by special derogation, together with a handful of otherfinancial market infrastructures.[3]
The other eight Belgian or euro-area-controlled LSIs were:
Based on the same ECB list, four Belgian LSIs were controlled by financial groups outside the euro area:
Byblos Bank Europe, subsidiary ofByblos Bank
Belgian branch ofHoist Finance AB
Belgian branch ofSaxo Bank A/S
United Taiwan Bank SA, subsidiary ofTaiwan Cooperative BankAs of 13 October 2025, the following banking groups established outside theEuropean Economic Area had branches in Belgium ("third-country branches" in EU parlance):[5]
TheNational Bank of Belgium, which is half-owned by the Belgian government, is specifically exempted from EU banking law by theCapital Requirements Directives.[6]
A number of former Belgian banks, defined as having been headquartered in the present-day territory of Belgium and its colonies, are documented on Wikipedia. They are listed below in chronological order of establishment.
