Good governance

In short

  • According to the European Banking Authority, Belgium is doing well when it comes to corporate governance.
  • Since the financial crisis, the attention for efficient risk management has been growing constantly.
  • Most of the financial institutions offer training programmes and e-learning dealing with their risk management mechanisms.
  • In laying down its policy, the financial sector takes into account economic, social, ethical and ecological factors.
  • Several financial institutions put a limit on their lending to specific sectors. The approach as for the decision about lending will be different for companies belonging to controversial sectors.
  • An ethical way of doing business is a strategically important priority issue for each financial institutions.
  • Within a strong economy, employment is vitally important. Currently, the number of direct jobs in the financial sector amounts to about 100,000 and that of indirect jobs to about 120,000.
  • In 2011, the financial institutions reported a total of 3,831 suspect transactions.