Banque commerciale du Congo

Former head office of Banque d'Outremer, rue Brederode 13 in Brussels

Following King Leopold II's creation of the Congo Free State in 1885, his colonial secretary Albert Thys in 1886 formed the Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (CCCI) to exploit the territory's resources. On 7 January 1899, on Thys's initiative, the Compagnie Internationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (CICI) was formed in Brussels with shareholders that mostly included Belgian banks led by the Société Générale de Belgique (SGB), as well as some French investors led by the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, German investors led by Deutsche Bank, and British investors led by the Stern Brothers, Ernest Cassel, and Vincent Caillard. The chairman was initially the SGB's Joseph Devolder, and Thys was its managing director. Because of frequent confusion between CCCI and CICI, the latter soon changed its name to Banque d'Outremer (lit. 'Bank of Overseas').[1] It was hosted next to the CCCI on rue de Brederode,[2] next to the Royal Palace of Brussels and across the street from its annex the so-called Norwegian chalet, built a few years later to host the Free State's offices.[3] Rather than a bank, the Banque d'Outremer acted as an investment company that invested into projects in Congo but also Canada, China, the Dutch East Indies, and Russia.[1]

The Banque du Congo Belge was founded in 1909 with sponsorship from the Banque d'Outremer, and initially hosted within the latter's head office complex.[2] In 1911, it was granted the note-issuance privilege for the Belgian Congo, which it subsequently kept until 1952, when it was replaced in this role by the Banque Centrale du Congo Belge et du Ruanda-Urundi (BCCBRU). In 1954, it moved to a new head office on Cantersteen 1 above the North–South connection in central Brussels, designed by architects André and Jean Polak.[4]

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  Former building of Banque du Congo Belge in Kinshasha, designed ca. 1942 by architect Maurice Houyoux, now DRC Ministry of Portfolio
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  Former building of Banque du Congo Belge in Lubumbashi
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  Former building of Banque du Congo Belge in Mbandaka

Former head office of Banque Belgolaise at Cantersteen 1 in Brussels

With the independence of Congo in 1960, the Banque du Congo Belge restructured its European activities as the Banque Belgo-Congolaise, known from 1965 as Belgolaise. The activities in Congo were reorganized as Banque Commerciale Du Congo, with Belgolaise, the Congolese state, and private partners as BCDC's shareholders. The former branches in Kigali and Bujumbura were reorganized in the 1960s, respectively, as the Bank of Kigali and the Banque de Crédit de Bujumbura.

Belgolaise Bank expanded into other African markets in the late 1980s and 1990s, and in the late 1990s was acquired by Fortis Group. In the 2000s, Fortis was unable to find a buyer, and started to liquidate it in 2005.[5] The liquidation was completed by BNP Paribas Fortis in 2018.[6]

Commercial Bank of Congo in Lubumbashi

The BCDC was renamed Banque Commerciale Zaïroise when the country's name was changed. With the collapse of the country's economy and the long civil war starting in 1997, the bank sharply reduced the size of its activities. In 2004, taking advantage of the improved socio-political climate and the subsequent economic upturn, BCDC redeployed its network throughout the country and adapted its sales organization. BCDC became a bank of reference in the DRC, active throughout the country. From 2009, it was controlled by George Arthur Forrest. By year-end 2016, it earned $11 million US dollars before tax, making it the highest result in 15 years. In 2017, BCDC operated twenty three branches in seventeen cities in the DRC.[7] Including 10 in Kinshasa, 4 in the former Katanga Province, and one in each of the following cities : Aru, Beni, Boma, Bukavu, Bunia, Butembo, Durba, Goma, Kananga, Kimpese, Kisangani, Lukala, Matadi, Mbuji-Mayi and Isiro. The Kananga agency, in Kasai Central, was located on Boulevard Lumumba.

On 9 September 2019, Equity Group Holdings Limited, a Kenyan-based banking group, announced that it had acquired a controlling stake in BCDC from George Forrest.[8] In December 2020, Equity Bank Group, having received regulatory approval from the DR Congolese regulators, began the process of merging BCDC with Equity Bank Congo (EBC), to form Equity Banque Commerciale du Congo (Equity BCDC), where the group maintained 77.5 percent shareholding.[9]

• Official site
• Documents and clippings about Banque commerciale du Congo in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW