This is KBC, the Belgian bank eyeing ABN Amro

According to Bloomberg and the FD, the Belgian bank-insurer KBC has its eye on the Dutch ABN Amro. The American financial news agency reports that the Belgians are exploring "a possible acquisition of ABN Amro to strengthen its market position in Europe." The Dutch business newspaper reports that the Belgians have engaged the investment bankers of Bank of America for this purpose.

The study is reportedly still in its "early stages." KBC tempered expectations by stating in a statement that the company is currently "only studying a possible acquisition" of a Belgian insurer.

Such an acquisition would, in principle, fit within the consolidation of the currently fragmented European banking system, a trend that has been increasingly advocated recently. The idea is that by creating larger and stronger banks, Europe would be better able to compete with the US and China. Last year, several European banks explored large, sometimes cross-border, acquisitions. For example, Italy's Unicredit wants to acquire Germany's Commerzbank and has already built a substantial stake in it.

No. The days when ABN Amro was an international banking giant are long gone. In 2008, the then-Dutch banking giant was broken up after its acquisition by Bank of Scotland, Fortis, and Santander. Shortly thereafter, the Dutch government had to nationalize the Dutch part of Fortis/ABN Amro to prevent its collapse. Since then, ABN Amro has remained a modest bank on a global scale, with a balance sheet total of €385 billion at the end of last year. KBC, with a balance sheet total of €373 billion, has a similar size.

In other respects, KBC is even larger. Last year, the Belgian company posted a net profit of €3.4 billion on total revenues of €11.2 billion, with approximately 40,000 employees. ABN Amro posted a net profit of €2.4 billion on operating income of €8.9 billion, and has over 21,000 employees. KBC's market capitalization is over €40 billion, almost twice that of ABN Amro.

Not really, because there are significant cultural differences between financial institutions, not to mention the differing customs in Dutch and Belgian businesses. KBC was formed in 1998 from a merger of Kredietbank, CERA Bank, and Assurantie van de Belgische Boerenbond (ABB). These institutions' roots lie in the agricultural sector, best compared in the Netherlands to Rabobank. The KBC office in Antwerp (see photo) is known as "de Boerentoren" (the Farmers' Tower).

ABN Amro, on the other hand, emerged from a merger of banks that primarily financed large corporations: the Amsterdamsche Bank, the Rotterdamsche Bank, the Twentsche Bank, and the Nederlandse Handel-maatschappij (Dutch Trading Company).

KBC is also much more international than ABN Amro. Of its 40,000 employees, only 15,000 work in its home market of Belgium. Outside of Belgium, KBC operates primarily in Central Europe, in countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Of ABN Amro's more than 21,000 employees, a whopping 86 percent work in the Netherlands.

Yes. Perhaps even more important than its historical roots or the importance of its domestic markets is KBC's role as a bank and insurer. In the Netherlands, the so-called "bank-insurance model" has fallen into disrepute since the credit crisis. ABN Amro does operate in insurance, but through a partnership with insurance giant NN.

Once upon a time. Last February, KBC CEO Johan Thijs said in an interview with the FD that his bank had already been looking at the Dutch market over ten years ago. At the time, "serious discussions" with De Nederlandsche Bank (the Dutch Central Bank) revealed that the regulator no longer permitted the "integrated bank-insurance model" as a result of the credit crisis.

"But for us, the bank-insurance model is quite crucial," Thijs emphasized. "Just buying a bank isn't interesting for us." However, the KBC CEO did open the door to the Netherlands a bit by indicating that he didn't know what the DNB (Dutch Central Bank) currently thinks about the combination of banking and insurance.

No other names are currently circulating, but ABN Amro has been the subject of takeover rumors more often over the past ten years. In 2016, the Scandinavian bank Nordea was reportedly interested, in 2022, the French BNP Paribas reportedly considered a takeover bid, and in early 2024, Deutsche Bank was mentioned as a potential buyer.