Banque de Belgique (Bank of Belgium) Currency & Banknote Values

The Banque de Belgique (Bank of Belgium) series of Belgium in the World Currency contains 5 distinct entries.

During the unrest of the 1830 Belgian revolution, the Société Générale continued to operate, and became the state cashier to the new Belgian provisional government while remaining in that role for the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. However, the Société Générale refused to hand over the cash reserves of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and wouldn’t submit to government supervision, leading to the establishment of a rival issuing institution, the Banque de Belgique (Bank of Belgium, BDB), on 26 February 1835, headquartered in Brussels under the direction of the former liberal minister of finance, Charles de Brouckère.

The Belgian government wanted to make the Banque de Belgique the state cashier, but that privilege remained with the Société Générale, which had that role since 1823.

On 17 December 1838, the Banque de Belgique closed its doors, having taken excessive risks in lending to achieve rapid expansion, and thus being unable to exchange its banknotes for coins. The bank was eventually rescued by a substantial government loan.