Bank Brussels Lambert (BBL, ) was a prominent Belgian
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...
that was created in 1975 through the merger of
Banque de Bruxelles and
Banque Lambert, and was eventually acquired in 1998 by
ING Group
ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, whol ...
; however the name survived as part of
Groupe Bruxelles Lambert
Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) is a Belgian holding company invested in multiple industries. It invests in both listed and private companies. Directed by Ian Gallienne, GBL had a net asset value of €22.5 billion and a market capitalisation of â ...
, which controlled the bank prior to its acquisition.
Overview
The 1975 merger made BBL the second largest Belgian bank at that time. It provided retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in Belgium, together with related financial products such as insurance and asset management.
In 2003, ING rebranded BBL as
ING Belgium.
The headquarters of BBL, now an office of ING Group, was the former head office building of Bank Lambert on Marnixlaan 24, Brussels. This
modernist
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
building was the only European building designed by the American architect
Gordon Bunshaft
Gordon Bunshaft (May 9, 1909 – August 6, 1990) was an American architect, a leading proponent of modern design in the mid-twentieth century. A partner in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Bunshaft joined the firm in 1937 and remained with it ...
making it one of the most important
modernist
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
architectural buildings in Belgium.
See also
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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 ...
*
Fortis Group
*
KBC Group
References
External links
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Banks of Belgium
ING Group
1975 establishments in Belgium
Belgian companies established in 1975
Defunct banks of Belgium
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