Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde celebrated the 200th anniversary of BNP Paribas Fortis on Wednesday with a visit to the bank's new headquarters in Brussels.
The royal couple took part in a guided tour and learned about the challenges the banking sector will face in the coming years.
The history of BNP Paribas Fortis began in December 1822, when the Société Générale de Belgique was created. La Générale de Banque subsequently emerged from this Belgian investment company. In 1999, la Générale merged with the CGER to become Fortis, which was taken over by French bank BNP Paribas in 2009.
The royal couple was able to visit the bank's new headquarters, located at Montagne du Parc, in the centre of Brussels. The tallest buildings on this site offer a view of the Royal Palace.
The couple attended three workshops during the visit: on digital inclusion, sustainability and human capital, which represent three major challenges for the banking and financial sector. The youth choirs of La Monnaie provided a musical interlude.
The brand-new BNP Paribas Fortis site has been open to bank staff since December 2021. It is a passive building - i.e. its energy consumption is very low - and meets strict environmental performance standards.
The site has 4,500 workstations spread over 100,000 m2.
