Belgium: Formalization and Incremental Development of a Supervisor with Increasing Powers and Authority

The formalization process of Belgian banking supervision provides an interesting case. Mixed international influences as well as major domestic reforms influenced the direction of formalizing the supervisory system. It began in the middle of the 1930s as a consequence of the economic and financial crisis at the beginning of the decade. The reforms undertaken in 1934 and 1935 transformed the Belgian banking system from a free and unrestricted market, featuring very influential financial groups operating universal banking, to a supervised and more specialized banking system. However, based on our understanding of “formalization,” the process was not completed until the mid-1970s, because newly created formal supervision agency—the Banking Commission—initially functioned with very little resources and powers on a similar basis as its Swiss equivalent. In the post-Second World War era, the Belgian banking supervisor developed significantly, and its influence reached beyond mere prudential supervision. By the mid-1970s, the Banking Commission got involved in monetary and state financing policy, and the agency obtained the supervision of additional financial institutions.