The Court of Cassation tightens the notion of gross negligence, without turning the bank into an automatic insurer against phishing. By a judgment of 29 June 2026, the Belgian Court of Cassation clarified the notion of gross negligence in phishing fraud. The decision undeniably raises the bar for banks that intend to leave the loss... Continue Reading →

The Antwerp Order of 26 May 2026 requires a bank to reimburse immediately a customer who has fallen victim to banking phishing. But what does it really say, and what should financial institutions take away from it?

Brussels Court of Appeal (Dutch-speaking chamber), 27 January 2026 Can a bank terminate a credit relationship when its client has not yet been convicted of any criminal offence? The Brussels Court of Appeal (Dutch-speaking chamber) recently shed useful light on this question in a judgment of 27 January 2026. The decision arises in a setting... Continue Reading →

Phishing and payment fraud are, unfortunately, thriving. Posing as trusted institutions in ever more convincing messages, fraudsters target banks and their customers in particular. Belgium’s financial ombudsman (Ombudsfin) has recorded a steep rise in payment-fraud complaints over recent years. This article sets out how Belgian law allocates the resulting losses between bank and customer. The... Continue Reading →

A demanding client. Mr "Borné" (a fictitious name; the key point is the accented "é" at the end) was a client of Bank X. In the bank's database, his name was recorded in capitals only, spelled "BORNE", as it was on his cheques, transfer forms and bank cards. The bank's IT system, built in the... Continue Reading →

On 17 May 2023, new rules governing advertising for virtual currencies entered into force. They aim in particular to ensure that the risks linked to virtual currencies are sufficiently highlighted in such advertising. The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) oversees compliance. On 5 January 2023, the FSMA issued a regulation subjecting the marketing of... Continue Reading →

Our earlier articles set out the principles applicable to phishing. A consistent line of recent Belgian case law now applies those principles and has curbed the assumption — long held by many fraud victims — that a bank must automatically reimburse sums stolen through phishing. The picture that emerges from the last few years is... Continue Reading →

A growing number of businesses are seeing their bank accounts closed and struggling to open new ones. An Antwerp diamond dealer, a cleaning company, a hospitality business, an arms manufacturer, a company holding a stake in a hospital in the DRC, a crypto broker, a real-estate company bought by a Russian citizen: superficially they have... Continue Reading →

This article was published in the Forum de l'Immobilier, May 2022 (Anthemis). For over twenty years, the early repayment of a credit and the amount claimed by the bank in return for that early termination, whether called reinvestment indemnity, break indemnity or funding loss, have kept business people and banking and credit lawyers busy. The... Continue Reading →

FSMA communication of 1 March 2022. From 1 May 2022, the activities of certain virtual-currency service providers are regulated in Belgium. These providers must meet a series of conditions, notably as to their professional integrity and compliance with anti-money-laundering legislation. Who is covered by the new rules on crypto and virtual-currency services? Providers of exchange... Continue Reading →

Note: this analysis dates from late February 2022 and describes the sanctions context of the time; it remains of general interest on the SWIFT mechanism. The context and the SWIFT company On 26 February 2022, the leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States announced their commitment... Continue Reading →

A judgment of the French-speaking Brussels Enterprise Court restates the principles of limitation, which resonate particularly in operations on financial instruments. The facts: a swap and a fall in EURIBOR, non-contractual liability? The case pitted a family company in the timber sector against its bank. The company had credit lines at the variable EURIBOR rate.... Continue Reading →

We revisit a case that sheds light on the October 2007 acquisition of the Dutch bank ABN Amro by the consortium of Fortis, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander, and on the issue and status of certain particular financial instruments. 1. The issue of instruments (CCEN and MCS) to acquire ABN Amro in 2007 In... Continue Reading →

The case: a sell order the bank did not execute A private-banking investor, who had concluded an execution-only agreement (mere order execution, no investment advice or discretionary management) with a bank, complained that it had not executed his instructions to sell subscription rights he held. The bank considered such an order exceeded the agreement's limits... Continue Reading →

The facts: an insurance broker offered his client Koblis The Kobelco case caused a stir in Flanders in the late 2000s. Kobelco, active in the life insurance sector before being declared bankrupt in 2009, offered investors a product called KOBLI, providing an investment of a given amount over a one-year horizon, in return for an... Continue Reading →

Bank third-party attachment A third-party attachment is, in short, an attachment levied by a creditor in the hands of its debtor's debtor. It is common in banking law: the creditor attaches the bank (the garnishee), which holds funds of its client (the attached debtor). The bank must then freeze the debtor's accounts and declare the... Continue Reading →

What is a (first demand) guarantee? A bank guarantee is a tripartite mechanism by which a bank undertakes towards a beneficiary to pay a set sum, in the cases and on the terms set out in a guarantee letter. Where the guarantee is a first demand guarantee, the beneficiary need only apply to the bank... Continue Reading →