EN ECB -PUBLIC 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 29 October  2012  
on profit  distribution between the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique  and 
the Belgian State   
(CON/ 2012 /81) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 4 October  2012,  the European Central Ba nk (ECB) received a request from the  Nationale Bank van 
België/Banque Nationale de Belgique (NBB ), acting on behalf of the  Belgian Minist er for Finance, for 
an opinion on a draft law repealing a profit distribution rule between the NBB and the Belgian Stat e 
and amending the L aw of 28 July 1948 on the reorganisation of the balance sheet of the NBB  
(here inafter the ‘draft law ’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on 
the Functioning of the European U nion and the  third  indent of Article  2(1) of Council 
Decision  98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national 
authorities regarding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft law relates to the NBB . In accordance 
with the first sentence of Article  17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the 
Governing Council has adopted this opinion.  
 
1. Purposes of the draft law  
The draft law  aims to delete , from  1 January 2012 , the third paragraph of Article 3 (b) of the Law on the 
reorganisation of the balance sheet of the NBB , which provides for a  stand -alone obligation of the NBB 
to pay the Belgian State an annual amount of 98 6 million Belgian francs ( EUR  24.4 million).  
The purpose of this obligation , introduced  in 1991, was to neutralise the Belgian State’s additional 
annual expenditure resulting from the one-off conversion of the NBB’s consolidated claim on the 
Belgian State into freely markeatable securities bearing interest at market rates for a  total of 34 billion 
Belgian francs. Pursuant to  the distribution rule s in force  at the time , the Belgian State was  to receive 
the net financial proceeds in excess of 3% of the difference between the average amount of the NBB’s 
interest -bearing assets and remunereated l iabilities calculated on an annual basis . Taking into account 
an adjustment of 0 .1% out of this 3% (due to the partial compensation for the maintenance of the 
banknotes in circulation), the application of the ‘3% rule’ to the 34 billion Belgian francs 
corresponding to the aggregate amount of freely markeatable securities bearing interest at market rates 
                                                
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
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2 booked in the NBB ’s balance sheet result ed in an  amount  of EUR 24.4 million2. Subsequently , 
Article  2 of the Law of 3 April 2009 amending the financial prov isions of the L aw of 22  February 1998 
establishing the Organic Statute  of the N ationale Bank of België/Banque Nationale de Belgique 
(hereinafter the ‘Organic Statute of the NBB’)  repealed the ‘3% rule’. Article 3 introduced  a new profit 
distribution rule  in Article 32 of the Organi c Statute of the NBB according to which the NBB’s annual 
profits are allocated as follows: (a) from the excess of NBB annual  profits after allocation to 
shareholders of a first dividend of 6% of the NBB’s  capital, an amount propos ed by the NBB’s Board 
of Directors and established by its Council of Regency  is independently allocated to the reserve fu nd or 
to the available reserves; ( b) from the remaining profits  a second dividend established by the Council of 
Regency of a minimum of  50% of the net  proceeds from assets forming the counterpart to the reserve 
fund and available reserves is allocated to  shareholders; and ( c) finally, the balance is allocated to the 
State. Articles 2 and 3 of th at law entered into force on 1 January 2009.  The ECB was consulted on this 
new profit distribution rule and adopted Opinion CON/2009/4. 
 
2. General observations  
Any transfer of a national central bank ’s resources to a Member State, either in the form of a profit  
distribution scheme or any equivalent f orm, needs to comply with the limitations imposed in this 
respect by the Treaty, in particular with the principle of central bank independence pursuant 
to Article  130 of the  Treaty, and with the prohibition on monetary financing laid down in 
Article  123(1)3. 
 
3. Specific observations  
The draft law repeals the stand -alone obligation of the NBB to pay on a yearly basis  to the Belgian 
State a  fixed  amount of EUR 24.4 million.  The ECB understands that since the repeal of the ‘3% rule’ 
in 2009 , the NBB has continue d to pay this stand- alone amount, which was, however, computed in its 
annual accounts as an expense, thereby deducting from  the total amount of distribution made to the 
State in accordance with Article 32 of the Organic Statute of the NBB4 the amount of 
EUR 24.4 million . As this obligation is  formally  incompatible with the (new) profit distribution rules 
contained in Article 32 of the O rganic Statute of the NBB , repealing it removes  the risk of inconsistent 
profit allocation . These profits will  now be exclu sively governed by the Organic Statute of the NBB. In 
addition, the ECB understands that the agreement between the NBB and the Ministry of Finance setting 
out the details of the application of Article 3(b) of the Law on the reorganisation of the balance sh eet of 
the NBB is terminated. This would, in turn, strengthen the overall financial independence of the NBB , 
whose discretion will no more be restricted by requirements to take into account fixed annual payments to the Belgian State.   
                                                
2  See the preparatory work of the draft law on public debt market and monetary policy instruments, Sena te, 1001- 1 
(1990 – 1991), p. 6 and 21 . 
3   See for example CON/2011/91 paragraph 2 and CON/2011/99 paragraph 2.3.  
4   See the annual accounts and report s for the financial year 2011, p. 63 (section 6) and p. 78, including footnote (1).  
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3  
This opinion will be  published on the ECB’s website.  
  
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 29 October 2012. 
 
[signed]  
 
The President of the ECB  
Mario DRAGHI