Banque Internationale à Luxembourg S.A. (BIL, "International Bank in Luxembourg") is the oldest private bank in Luxembourg. It offers commercial and corporate banking services. Since 2018, it has been majority-owned by China-headquartered

Legend Holdings Legend Holdings Corporation () is a Chinese investment holding company with interests in finance, real estate, and information technology, and the controlling shareholder of its better-known associate company, the Lenovo Group. Formed by the Chin ...

History

Founded in 1856, the bank was a major bank of Luxembourg. Like other banks in the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

, BIL issued

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

s in multiple currencies including the

Belgian franc The Belgian franc ( nl, Belgische frank, french: Franc belge, german: Belgischer Franken) was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, each known as a in Dutc ...

Dutch guilder The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, ...

, Prussian thaler, and Rhineland thaler. In 1914, the BIL’s notes became

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in ...

in Luxembourg. Starting in 1976, BIL acquired the Luxembourg subsidiary of Belgium's Banque Lambert, initially founded in 1961 as , and fully absorbed it in 1979. In 1982, it opened a subsidiary in Singapore. In 1983, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert and Pargesa Holding, both controlled by Belgian financier

Albert Frère Albert, Baron Frère (4 February 1926 – 3 December 2018) was a Belgian billionaire businessman. Early life Frère grew up as a son of a nail merchant and helped in the business since an early age. His father died when Frère was 17; Frère ha ...

, in turn acquired minority stakes in the equity of BIL. In 1991, Crédit Communal de Belgique acquired 25 percent of the capital of BIL, and in 1992 raised its stake to 51 percent. Crédit Communal de Belgique, which had become

Dexia Dexia N.V./S.A., or the Dexia Group, is a Franco-Belgian financial institution formed in 1996. At its peak in 2010, it had about 35,200 members of staff and a core shareholders' equity of €19.2 billion. In 2008, the bank entered severe ...

in 1996, acquired full ownership of BIL in 1999. In the 2000, the Dexia brand replaced the former BIL identity. Luxembourg Dexia Building

In 2012 Dexia sold BIL for €730 million to Precision Capital, which also owned

KBL European Private Bankers Quintet Private Bank is a medium-sized Luxembourg-headquartered bank and wealth manager, founded in 1949 as Kredietbank Luxembourg (KBL), later rebranded KBL European Private Bankers or KBL ebp, and to its present name in 2020. Since 2011, it ha ...

. In 2015, the BIL closed its Singapore subsidiary. In 2017, the Chinese investment company

announced it was acquiring Precision Capital's 90% stake in the bank for €1.484 billion. In July 2018, the acquisition, notified through the Luxembourg regulator (CSSF), was approved by the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...

Controversy

In August 2020, Luxembourg’s

Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) is responsible for the financial regulation in Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy o ...

imposed a large fine of 4.6 million euro on BIL, following inspection of the bank’s AMLCFT systems in 2017 and 2018. In 2020, the bank reported a decrease of 10% of its annual results.

References

External links

* Banks of Luxembourg 1856 establishments in Luxembourg Banks established in 1856 Banks under direct supervision of the European Central Bank {{Euro-bank-stub

History

Controversy

See also

References

External links