Société Générale de Banque

(Générale Bankmaatschappij), a large commercial bank in Belgium. The Societe Generale de Banque was formed in 1965 by the merger of three banks owned by a single monopoly, namely, by the merger of the Banque de la Société Générale de Belgique (founded 1822), the Banque d’Anvers (1827), and the Société Beige de Banque (1935). It extends credits to the major branches of the national economy, especially to foreign trade, and conducts operations on loan-capital markets at home and abroad. Its headquarters is in Brussels.

The Société Générale de Banque has 1,100 branches and offices (1975) and several subsidiary banks in Belgium. It has representative offices and subsidiary banks in 25 countries on all continents, including the former Belgian colonies in Africa; it participates in foreign and multinational consortium banks, in particular, in the European Banks’ International Company and its branches. Including its subsidiary banks and participation in other banks, it has total assets of more than US $14 billion. On Jan. 1, 1975, the Societe Generale de Banque had total liabilities of 446 billion Belgian francs, capital and reserves of 10.9 billion Belgian francs, deposits of 245 billion Belgian francs, and discount and loan operations of 185 billion Belgian francs.