The dream of Raisière
This money, which comes out of the bank obviously does not do the affairs of his CEO, Marc Raisière, whose ambitions of expansion, including on the international front, are a secret for anyone. One can imagine that he will have passed to the Grand Argentier Jan Jambon, his minister of guardianship, the message that the war treasure of his institution is not inexhaustible. Perhaps he went to talk about it to the president of the MR, Georges-Louis Bouchez, whom he readily frequents. As he may have drawn with the latter the scenarios that have his preference, starting with an alliance with the insurer Ethias. His dream has always been … and which could make him forget the failed attempts to take over in particular banks Degroof Petercam or Nagelmackers. And which could also boost an insurance activity in the way and represent barely a quarter of the results (273 million euros in 2024).
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The president of the MR will probably not have been deaf to these arguments. He too is a fervent defender of an alliance with Ethias, as he said to Free. He even saw it as a prerequisite for a possible sale of a participation of Belfius, thus blocking any projects of the Wever government to sell 20 to 30 % of the capital. Why such a position? Did he simply be convinced by Marc Raisière? Or are there any other reasons? Officially, he sees it as a purely industrial logic of Bancassurance, just to make the group stronger. But some wise observers have another reading. They explain these media outings by more political motivations. “Georges-Louis Bouchez wants to make Ethias no longer a PS bastion. It’s a way to break the PS state “we are told.
PS Bastion
It is true that the insurer, whose headquarters is in Liège, remains very present in the PS ecosystem, whether by its customers (notably local authorities) or its network. His CEO, Philippe Lallemand, drags a socialist label to his socialist label for managing the Emile Vandervelde Institute (IEV) almost thirty years ago. “”I have not been part of the PS since I entered the Ethias management committee in 2009 “, he said to Free A few months ago, visibly annoyed that we recall his beginning of a career at the IEV.
In the same interview, he made it clear that the Walloon Region, one of the three shareholders of Ethias (with the Flemish region and the federal state) was in favor of the stand alonereferring to the remarks of the Minister-President Mr. Adrien Dolimont and the Minister of the Economy Mr. Pierre-Yves Jeholet during the inauguration of the new building in Liège. One way also for him to insinuate that within the MR, not everyone is of the same opinion as Georges-Louis Bouchez. We could almost see a spade there from the one who would not, it is said, a great friend of the Montois.
Wave of consolidation
It seems obvious that an alliance between Belfius and Ethias is not for tomorrow. “”I don’t think the file moves a lot in the weeks or even the coming months “, also confirms a source close to the companies concerned. Such a rapprochement seems all the more improbable in the very short term than other groups, including KBC, Ageas and P&V, are on the ranks for the resumption of Ethias. They would not accept that Marc Raisière is given a pass.
With or without Ethias, the sale of part of the capital of Belfius also arouses a little skepticism. Since the bancassurer is valued around 8-9 billion, this means an investment of the order of 2 billion. It’s a lot of money, even if there are several buyers. “”What institutions will spend several hundred million knowing that they will be in front of them a majority shareholder who is the Belgian state?“, Wonders a business banker. In any case, those who invest will be very demanding in terms of governance and distribution of dividends.
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Another banker has a little different opinion. “”Anything is possible, including a sale in the twelve months“, He said to us, pointing out that a new wave of consolidation is underway in the financial sector. This is explained by better profitability of the sector, but probably also by becoming aware of the imperative need to create strong European groups and ready to resist the conquering aims of the Americans and the Chinese. As there was the argument of the euro at the time of the implementation of the single, the feeling reappears today.
It remains to be seen what type (s) of shareholders favor. We can assume that Marc Raisière has his little idea on the issue and that he has slipped into the ear of political leaders. We know that he wants to set foot abroad, that he wants to strengthen himself in insurance. Ideally, it would therefore be necessary to find a partner who can provide necessary means to meet his ambitions. But will the Wever team be ready to let go of part of the capital of Belfius to a French or Dutch bank or to a Swiss or German insurer, who will not be satisfied with 20 or 30 %? Delicate question …
