Belgium – co-operatives bursting at the seams. (cooperative banking in Belgium) (supplement to Euromoney magazine: Co-operatives – the green banks go international)

BELGIUM CO-OPERATIVES BURSTING AT THE SEAMS

Belgium’s two largest co-operative savings bank — CERA (Centrale des Caisses Rurales) and BACOB, the amalgamation of the acronyms in Flemish and French of “Belgian Workers’ Co-operative” — are literally bursting at the seams. With a rapid build-up of their domestic activities and unprecedented expansion of international operations, both banks have found their old headquarters too small to meet their new ambitions and growing staffs.

BACOB will complete moving this summer to its new ultra-modern office block in central Brussels.