The ' ( nl, Generale Maatschappij van België; literally "General Company of Belgium") was a large Belgian

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and later

holdings company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

which existed between 1822 and 2003. The ''Société générale'' was originally founded as an

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who went ...

in 1822 when Belgium was under Dutch rule. After the

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. T ...

in 1830, it served as the

national bank In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings: * a bank owned by the state * an ordinary private bank which operates nationally (as opposed to regionally or locally or even internationally) * in the United States, an ordinary p ...

until 1850. Its investments in the national economy contributed to the rapidity of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

in the region. As a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, the ''Société générale'' exercised considerable indirect control over the Belgian and colonial economy. Various elements of the company, including its banking wing, were split off over the course of its existence. In the 1980s,

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...

begun to buy up the company's shares and, in 1998, the ''Société générale'' was taken over by Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux. It ceased to exist in 2003 when it was merged with Tractebel to form Suez-Tractebel.

History

As part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the countries of Europe agreed to augment their armed forces from militia to a standing army. Although Belgium had been offered independence by the Prussians,

Lord Castlereagh Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Anglo-Irish politician ...

vetoed it on the grounds that the country was too small to be economically viable, and the question then arose of who should govern it, the Austrians having washed their hands of it as a historical accident of the breakup of the Habsburg empire. Although

refused initially on the grounds of the added expense involved in maintaining the said army, Castlereagh persuaded him by asking him if he preferred to be Prince of Orange or King of the Netherlands, adding that from a practical point of view the Belgian Ducal Estates amounted to a third of the country. He therefore founded the company in 1822 to administer these estates under the name ' ("General Netherlands Society for Advantage to the National Industry"), with the overt goal of increasing the welfare of the country, but with the covert objective of covering these costs. As the Standing Army project never got taken seriously by the rest of Europe in practice, and the delivery of the Company proved insufficient, the objectives changed in 1826 to the delivery of a year as a "pension" to the King's personal account. After the

of 1830, the company became Belgian, under the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

name ', and it retained the Estates, which were sold off at low prices to the immediate circle of the Board. It then served until 1850 as the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; nl, Nationale Bank van België, french: Banque nationale de Belgique, german: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% p ...

. The ' was an important provider of capital for the upcoming industry of Belgium in the 19th century. In the years before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the company invested in roads, railroads and canals. It was also the main operation in the Belgian colony of

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

. After the 1929 Crash, the company split off its banking segment (1934), becoming the

Generale Bank Fortis, formally Fortis N.V./S.A., was a Benelux-centered global financial services group active in insurance, banking and investment management, initially formed in 1990 by a three-way Belgian-Dutch merger and headquartered in Brussels. It grew ...

(now Fortis, which was later sold to BNP Paribas, resulting in BNP Paribas Fortis), but remained its largest stockholder. Starting in the end of the 1980s, the

company started to obtain a large portion of the 's shares, which resulted in the full take-over of the company in 1998, by .

Subsidiaries once (majority) owned by the

* - electric construction — electronics * — public utility * — cargo and shipping company * — public utility * — public utility * — arms manufacturer * — bank * , Belgian rolling stock manufacturing company * — public utility * — mining company * Forminière

Governors

The following people were governors of ''Société générale'' during its existence as an independent company: * (1823–1830) *

Ferdinand de Meeûs Ferdinand de Meeûs (1798–1861) was a Belgian banker, businessman and politician. 1798 births 1861 deaths Belgian bankers 19th-century Belgian businesspeople Belgian nobility 19th-century Latin-language writers Members of the National ...

(1830–1861) *

Charles Liedts Charles Augustin Baron Liedts (2 December 1802 in Oudenaarde – 21 March 1878) was a Belgian liberal politician. Born into the Bourgeoisie of Oudenaarde he became only 28 years young member of the National Congress of Belgium. After he became ...

(1861–1877) *

Victor Tesch Victor Jean-Baptiste Tesch (12 March 1812 – 16 June 1892)Gardini, Fausto Luxembourgensia.blogspot.co.uk. 2012. Retrieved on 30 October 2013. was a Luxembourgish and Belgian jurist, industrialist, journalist and liberal politician. He was born in ...

(1877–1892) * (1892–1913) *

Jean Jadot Jean Jadot (23 November 1909 – 21 January 2009) was a Belgian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as apostolic delegate to the United States (the first non-Italian to do so) from 1973 to 1980, and President of the Secretariat for ...

(1913–1932) *

Emile Francqui Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

(1932–1935) *

Alexandre Galopin Alexandre Galopin (26 September 1879 – 28 February 1944) was a Belgian businessman notable for his role in German-occupied Belgium during World War II. Galopin was director of the Société Générale de Belgique, a major Belgian company, and ...

(1935–1944) * Gaston Blaise (1944–1950) * Paul Gillet (1950–1961) * Max Nokin (1961–1974) * Paul-Emile Corbiau (1975–1980) * René Lamy (1981–1988)

References

External links

* (Images, etc.)
The creation of the Société Générale des Pays-Bas to encourage industry in 1822
an
Generale Bank, a major player in the development of Belgian industry
at BNP Paribas Fortis * {{DEFAULTSORT:Societe Generale De Belgique Banks of Belgium Privately held companies of Belgium Banks established in 1822 Banks disestablished in 2003 Companies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo 1822 establishments in the Netherlands William I of the Netherlands Holding companies of Belgium Defunct banks of Belgium

History

Subsidiaries once (majority) owned by the

Governors

References

Further reading

External links