| General info : | | Cera is the brand name used by Cera CV, formerly known as CERA Bank, a Belgian cooperative that, following the merger with ABB Verzekeringen and Kredietbank in 1998, was partially absorbed into the KBC Group. Another part continued as a cooperative company with 400,000 members who invest together financially and socially.
The history of CERA Bank began in 1892 in Rillaar, Flemish Brabant, as a local cooperative savings bank. It found its origins in the ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen. The establishment of the Rural Savings and Loan Guilds (the later Raiffeisen banks), with Jacob-Ferdinand Mellaerts as the driving force, made it possible to mobilize financial resources within the agricultural sector on affordable terms.
During the First World War, prices for food and agricultural products rose and farmers' incomes increased, allowing them to save more. The local Raiffeisen banks eventually received more money than they could lend out in the form of credit. The surplus funds were therefore channeled to the Middenkredietkas, a coordinating and supervisory body established in Leuven in 1895, which managed these funds. The Middenkredietkas initially invested the money almost exclusively in government bonds and bonds, and over time also in shares. The institution grew into a mixed bank.
The Great European Recession of the 1930s hit Belgian banks particularly hard. They could only realize their investment portfolios at a heavy loss. The Middenkredietkas also faced significant liquidity shortages and customers withdrew their savings en masse. In 1935, the Middenkredietkas was put into liquidation and replaced by the Centrale Kas voor Landbouwkrediet. This umbrella cooperative was later renamed Centrale Raiffeisenkas, which was abbreviated to CERA in the late 1970s. This name was also adopted by the local cooperative banks, and thus CERA Bank became a financial institution with a dense network of branches.
The unification of Europe and the prospect of the monetary union presented CERA Bank with the challenge of scaling up. This ultimately led to the merger in 1998 with Assurantie van de Belgische Boerenbond (ABB Verzekeringen) and Kredietbank. During the formation of this KBC Group, banking activities were placed in KBC Bank NV. CERA Bank contributed its banking activities to it and received in return a significant stake in the banking and insurance group with shares from the former partners of CERA Bank and newly joined cooperative members. This created the holding company Cera CVBA, whose assets consist of significant stakes in KBC Group and KBC Ancora. The shares of KBC Ancora are 'repackaged' KBC Group shares. Cera, together with its subsidiary KBC Ancora, is the largest shareholder of KBC Group.
In 2024, the cooperative Cera had more than 400,000 members. With a combined participation of 22.3% in the capital of KBC Group, Cera CV and its subsidiary KBC Ancora are the largest shareholders of KBC Group. Based on their cooperative shares, every Cera member has the prospect of an annual potential cooperative dividend. | |
| Contact info | | | |
| Source : | | Wikipedia (nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cera_cv) | |
| Websites | | https://www.cera.coop/nl/particulieren (www.cera.coop/nl/particulieren) | |
| Relations : | | Brand name used by : Cera CV | |
| Relations : | | Merged into : KBC Groep NV1998Banking activities | |
| Copied Wikipedia parts under license : | | Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) | |