The KBC Group has confirmed the purchase of HSBC’s private banking subsidiary in Belgium and Luxembourg, HSBC Dewaay. The deal was finalised...

The KBC Group has confirmed the purchase of HSBC’s private banking subsidiary in Belgium and Luxembourg, HSBC Dewaay. The deal was finalised yesterday and no acquisition price was disclosed. Dewaay has around 140 staff and has offices in Brussels, Antwerp and Knokke in Belgium, and has a subsidiary in Luxembourg. It manages around €2.5 billion ($3.05 billion) in client assets. KBC said in a statement: “The acquisition of Dewaay will substantially reinforce the position of KBL European Private Bankers in Belgium. KBL EPB is responsible for developing private banking within KBC Group. Present in 13 European countries, KBC’s private banking network now has overall client assets totalling €65 billion.” KBC is expected to merge Dewaay into its other private banking business in Belgium, Puilaetco, which was acquired in June 2004. Puilaetco employs 149 staff in its offices in Brussels, Antwerp, Liège and Ghent. The bank has around €4.2 billion in assets under management. The Dewaay brand is expected to be dropped in favour of Puilaetco, although the timetable for this has not been made public by KBC. The combined private banking business for KBL, the European-wide network of private banks owned by KBC, will be at least €6.7 billion. This will make it one of the largest private banks in the country. The move represents a set back of HSBC’s private banking strategy in Belgium, say analysts. “Although HSBC inherited Deeway from Commercial Credit of France when it took over the latter in 2000, the London-based bank hasn’t been able to successfully develop the brand in Belgium,” a Brussels-based analyst told WealthBriefing. The acquisition leaves just Petercam Bank and Bank DeGroof as two of the only independent private banks in Belgium. The Brussels-based analyst said DeGroof has recently been targeted for acquisition and Petercam is likely to have been a acquisition target as well. Dewaay was founded in 1926 by Rodolphe Dewaay, one of the forefathers of investment management in Belgium. The group was taken over in 1998 by Commercial Credit of France. Dewaay was renamed HSBC Dewaay in January 2004.