Property assets

Question discussed at the 2007 general meeting

The National Bank owns its registered office in Brussels, its branches in Antwerp, Bruges, Kortrijk, Ghent, Hasselt, Liège, Mons and Namur, as well as a sports and training centre in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe.

Whenever a building it owns ceases to be used for its normal business activities, the National Bank puts it up for sale.

Thus, the Arlon branch was sold (for the sum of 1.27 million euro) during the 2006 financial year and the Bruges branch will be put up for sale in 2007.

The capital gains realised on property sales are not subject to the 3 p.c. rule (Article 29 of the Organic Law/Article 53 of the Bank’s Statutes) given that this is not a question of proceeds from profit-earning assets.

The proceeds from these property sales are booked under Item VI of the profit and loss account ("other proceeds") and thus contribute to the annual profit, distributed in accordance with the rules set out in Article 32 of the Organic Law and Article 49 of the Statutes which give the sovereign State a preferential share of one fifth of the Bank’s profits (after deducting the first dividend – of up to 6 p.c. of the capital – to the shareholders, an initial charge to the reserve, and the share of the profits allocated to the staff or to institutions in its favour).

The National Bank does not have any valuations carried out in order to determine the marketable value of its buildings. In view of the specific nature of this property, it is moreover very difficult to establish a reliable figure. However that may be, it is not the insured value and the surface area that would enable a fair market value estimate for these buildings. The National Bank is therefore of the opinion that there is no point in publishing this information.