Foreign assets and liabilities in Belgium in 2016
The banking sector in Belgium has two important characteristics. First, banking is deemed an important part of Belgian culture with a relatively high number of bank offices in the country. In 2015, for example, the total number of offices of banks established in Belgium reached 4,519 in the Flemish region. Second, the Belgian banking landscape has the presence of several big non-Belgian banking concerns, notably Dutch bank ING and France-based BNP Paribas. In 2016, BNP Paribas Fortis, BNP Paribas' Belgian daughter, reached a phased-in Common Equity Tier 1 (CET 1) ratio of approximately 14 percent.