Belgium's fight against money laundering rages on, as the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) strengthens its focus on increased compliance. This means that businesses ...

The Belgian insurance sector has been subject to the MiFID I1 conduct of business rules since 1 May 2015.

On 4 December 2013, the European Commission announced that it had fined eight international financial institutions over € 1.71 billion for breaching Article 101 TFEU by participating in cartels in the markets for financial derivatives covering the EEA between different periods ranging from September 2005 to 2010.

On 2 March 2012, the General Court ("GC") has partly upheld ING’s appeal against a Commission decision of 2009 regarding various forms of aid granted by the Dutch State to the banking group ING in the context of the latter’s restructuring plan during the financial crisis.

On 19 February 2021, the EU Commission published its draft adequacy decision allowing personal data transfers from the EU to the UK under the GDPR. It is a welcome new development in the Brexit saga.

Belgian family offices and fund-of-funds utilizing the Privak regime face unique challenges when investing through Luxembourg structures, particularly regarding tax-neutral status requirements and participation exemption conditions. The look-through treatment of transparent entities like SCSps can create complications with underlying assets, prompting the need for alternative structuring solutions that maintain compliance while accommodating diverse investor bases.

On 15 June 2017, the Constitutional Court delivered a judgment on the guarantee scheme granted by Belgium to three financial cooperatives of the ARCO group.

On August 11, 2011, the Belgian financial regulator, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has amended the rules governing short selling of shares issued by certain financial institutions listed on Euronext Brussels and in related derivatives.

Asia has historically been a bank-financed market. Debt structures have typically been straightforward and banks have traditionally been able to service the needs of corporates for both event-driven