Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission (Belgium)

The Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission (CBFA) (Dutch: Commissie voor het Bank-, Financie- en Assurantiewezen, French: Commission Bancaire, Financière et des Assurances) was the financial regulatory agency for Belgium. It was replaced by a new agency, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) on the 1 April 2011 as part of a restructure of the financial regulatory system in Belgium.^[1]

History

The CBFA was formed in 2004 with the merger of Insurance Supervisory Authority (Dutch: Controledienst voor de Verzekeringen CDV), which was originally created in 1975, and the Banking and Finance Commission (Dutch: Commissie voor het Bank- en Financiewezen CBF), which was created in 1935, to form a single agency to regulate all financial markets in Belgium.

It was replace by the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) when the Law of 2 July 2010 was implemented. This was to develop the supervision of the financial sector towards a bipartite model known as the "Twin Peaks" model. This bipartite model is intended to provide a structure for the two major objectives of the supervision of the financial sector;^[2]

• maintaining the macro- and microeconomic stability of the financial system, which falls within the competence of the central bank, that is, the National Bank of Belgium;
• ensuring that market processes are equitable and transparent, that relationships between market participants are appropriate and that clients are treated honestly, fairly and professionally (notably from the perspective of rules of conduct), tasks which fall henceforth within the competence of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), formerly the CBFA.

See also

• Economy of Belgium
• Securities Commission
• National Bank of Belgium

References

External links

• Prudential Supervision, National Bank of Belgium website
• Financial Services and Markets Authority