In so doing, it confirmed that the National Bank’s shareholders have no entitlement to the capital gains realised by the Bank on its sales of gold.

The Bank wishes to point out that, naturally, it made these transfers in accordance with the relevant laws.  It has also consistently maintained that the transfers to the Treasury of capital gains realised on gold were not only lawful, but fair, since there is a link between a central bank’s gold reserves and the banknote-issuing privilege conferred by the State, and the performance of the national economy. They form part of the country’s external reserves, which in Belgium are held and managed by the National Bank in the general interest, in particular for the proper conduct of monetary and exchange rate policy. Therefore, it is not surprising that, pursuant to article 30 of the Bank’s Organic Law, capital gains realised on gold are not incorporated in the profit for distribution to shareholders. Under other laws, they have been used to repay part of the national debt in foreign currency or to finance the Ageing Fund.

Today’s judgment, which follows a number of other decisions already given by the Court of Arbitration and the Commercial Court, reaffirms the soundness of the positions consistently adopted by the Bank and the State. The National Bank reiterates that, in its capacity as the country’s central bank, its governance and the distribution of its income are governed by a special legal and statutory framework of which no investor can, in all good faith, claim ignorance.