On 5 and 6 March, BNP Paribas Fortis held its first Estate Planning Days, in partnership with leading financial newspapers L’Echo and De Tijd. This initiative is now being taken forward with the publication of three articles in Dutch and French providing clear, valuable information on wealth management. The information is also available on the two news-sites www.tijd.be and www.lecho.be.
Given the ever-shifting legal environment, proper estate planning is these days an undeniably important issue. Estate Planning covers everything to do with the management and transfer of a client’s wealth and assets, both for individual clients and companies. This field is one of BNP Paribas Fortis’ outstanding areas of expertise.
The two Estate Planning Days, one run in French, the other in Dutch, targeted intermediary professionals – lawyers, notaries, accountants, tax advisors, company auditors, tax consultants and family offices. The programme covered various topics including cross-border inheritance, donations, legal incapacity, the tax system and the rule changes expected under the forthcoming revision, plus operational aspects of estate structuring. The topics were presented by speakers from among the top specialists in their fields, among them notaries, lawyers and university professors.
CEO Max Jadot explained BNP Paribas Fortis’ unique positioning in Belgium in Private Banking and Wealth Management – an entry threshold of €250,000, an integrated approach (individual and company) to estate management, a specialised product range for investments and loans, a strongly-rooted local presence , with 37 private banking centres and two wealth management centres offering personal advice from experienced teams, also drawing on support from BNP Paribas Group resources in many countries.
Peter Vandekerckhove, Head of Retail & Private Banking, reminded the audience of the Bank’s central goal: to work closely with clients so as to achieve good long-term performance. “Among our strengths, I would underline our excellent customer service and our widely-recognised sound professional ethics. Our division numbers over 500 professionals who include specialists in banking, insurance, asset management and real estate investment.
BNP Paribas ranks as the 7th largest private bank in the world and number one in the eurozone. In Belgium, BNP Paribas Fortis Private Banking is market leader, with a total of 60 bilion euro worth of assets under management. But first and foremost however, we do everything in our power each and every day to earn our place as number one in terms of customer satisfaction.”