Members of the NewB cooperative will meet on Saturday 14 January to decide whether to reject or approve a partnership with the Ghent-based VDK cooperative bank.
NewB members were to have held a general meeting on Friday, but that meeting has been postponed to 14 January, the financially troubled cooperative announced on Thursday.
“As expected, the number of participants in the general meeting of 6 January (686 people) does not allow the necessary quorum of 50% of cooperative members (58,000) to be reached for the general meeting to be able to take a valid decision,” NewB announced in a communication to its members.
“Therefore, as previously announced, in order to avoid heavy expenses while the general assembly cannot make any decision, the board of directors will not organise remote participation," the cooperative said.
Instead, the board "will convene, as required by law, a new extraordinary general assembly on Saturday 14 January during which no quorum is required and on the basis of the same agenda,” it added.
In the meantime, a working group of NewB members with financial expertise has met to examine the business plan for the partnership with VDK Bank. The conclusions of this working group will be presented at the next general meeting.
Should the membership approve the partnership on 14 January, the transfer of customers should take place “in the first months of 2023.”
NewB was forced to cease its banking activities in October after failing to raise the €40 million needed to keep its banking licence. Placed under the supervision of a court-appointed administrator, NewB then proposed, at the eleventh hour, a merger with VDK Bank.
