The Parliament has recently adopted draft Act No 1760. When the necessary royal decrees enacting this act will be taken, a Belgian "societe anonyme/naamloze vennootschap" will have the option to issue three types of shares:
- bearer shares
- registered shares
- dematerialised shares
A dematerialised share consists of a booking in an account, in the name of the owner of the shares, with a recognised institution - the "recognised account holder" (i.e. credit institutions). Such an account may be opened in the name of several persons, but in this case the issuing company may suspend the rights attached to the shares in such an account until one person is designated as owner of the shares vis-a-vis the company.