Overview
The NBB (National Bank of Belgium) is Belgium's central bank and prudential supervisor, licensing and overseeing the country's credit institutions, insurers and payment and e-money institutions in Belgium's twin-peaks model alongside the FSMA. At the end of 2025 it supervised 93 credit institutions, 65 insurance companies and 48 payment and e-money institutions, and it is home supervisor of systemically important market infrastructure — including Euroclear — and lead overseer of Swift. Only one new payment-institution licence was granted in 2025 as the market waits for PSD3. Everything below is the NBB's own data, from its FY2025 annual report.
Leadership
1Pierre WunschGovernorsince 2019
Full board
Organisation (FY2025)
Staff — FTE, annual average1,853Whole institution — includes banknote production, cash operations and all central-bank functions; not supervision capacity
Operating expenditure (actual)€525mWhole institution — staff costs + administrative expenses + depreciation + banknote production services, per the statutory P&L
Supervised entities (end-2025)
Credit institutions932024: 97. 28 Belgian-law · 42 EEA branches · 3 non-EEA branches. Plus 6 financial holding companies · 4 financial services groups · 10 specialised subsidiaries
Banks by SSM class12 JSTs for significant institutions · 11 less-significantBank Nagelmackers and UniCredit (ex-Aion) became SIs in 2025
Stockbroking firms182024: 20. 8 Belgian-law · 9 EEA branches
Insurance & reinsurance companies652024: 70. 57 active insurers · 1 pure reinsurer; consolidation drove the drop (Federale Group merger). Plus 41 EEA branches (8 AML-only supervision)
Insurance groups95 national · 4 international. Group supervisor for Ageas, KBC Insurance, Ethias, among others
Payment institutions432024: 44. 31 Belgian-law · 3 account-aggregation providers · 9 EEA branches
E-money institutions52024: 4. 3 Belgian-law · 2 EEA branches (Swan, Mollie newly registered)
Licensing 2025
New payment-institution licences1HR Pay Solutions NV. Plus two licence conversions (Billit AISP→PI; Fimaser EMI→PI) and one lapse (Cake). NBB expects volumes to stay low into 2026 as the market waits for PSD3/PSR
Banking licencesBelgian-law count unchanged · 4 branch delistings/closuresDegroof Petercam Lux · CA Indosuez · DHB Bank branches delisted; Habib Bank branch closed
Financial market infrastructure
FY2025RolePrudential supervisor and/or overseer of Euroclear Bank, Euroclear Belgium, Euroclear SA, BNY Mellon SA/NV, Worldline, Bancontact, Mastercard Europe (jointly with the ECB), and lead overseer of Swift.An outsized FMI footprint for the country's size — Brussels hosts globally systemic post-trade and messaging infrastructure
Crypto / MiCA
FY2025NBB's MiCA roleCompetent authority for asset-referenced-token (ART) and e-money-token (EMT) issuers, and prudential supervisor of credit institutions and similar regulated firms providing crypto-asset services.Under Belgium's MiCA implementing Law of 11 December 2025
CASP authorisation (Art. 63)Handled by the FSMA, not the NBBBelgian transition regime runs to 30 June 2026. See the FSMA profile for CASP figures
Notable 2025
Two new significant institutionsBank Nagelmackers (acquired by Caisse d'Épargne Hauts de France) and Aion Bank (fully acquired and renamed UniCredit) both became significant institutions, leaving just 11 less-significant banks.
Payments-licensing freezeExactly one new payment-institution licence was granted all year — the NBB itself attributes the freeze to the market's wait-and-see stance ahead of PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation.
Global-plumbing roleThe NBB is lead overseer of Swift and home supervisor of Euroclear Bank — Belgian prudential decisions carry global financial-plumbing weight.
Insurance consolidationInsurance consolidation compressed the supervised population from 70 to 65 companies in a single year, driven by the Federale Group merger.
Key legislation
4Law of 22 February 1998 (Organic Law of the NBB)Establishes the NBB and its central-bank/supervisory mandate
Twin Peaks Act of 2 July 2010Split of prudential (NBB) vs conduct (FSMA) supervision
Banking Law of 25 April 2014CRD/CRR transposition; credit-institution supervision
Law of 11 December 2025 (MiCA)ART/EMT issuers · prudential aspects of regulated firms providing crypto services
Registers, portals and publications