In 2005 Fortis was the twenty largest financial institutions in Europe and also an international financial services provider active in the fields of insurance, banking and investment.
The Fortis group was founded in December 1990 when Dutch AMEV-VSB Group decided to merge with the Belgian leading insurance group Assurances Generales (AG) and has evolved to an international insurance and banking group in Western Europe and the United States.
Fortis is a somewhat special case because there exists no legal entity Fortis. Fortis is the name for the operating subsidiaries of the two mother companies the Belgian AG Group and the Dutch AMEV Group.
Fortis offers products internationally in Luxemburg, France and the UK, and through joint ventures in Spain, China and Malaysia. In September 2005, Fortis acquired OutRight, a major UK insurer.
Fortis Bank has a formidable history of successful acquisition including ASLK-CGER (1993), MeesPierson (1997) and the merger with the old well established Belgium retail banker, Generale de Banque in 1998.
MeesPierson, Dutch Bank dating back to 1720, after takeover by Fortis in 1997, it was merged into ABN AMRO Bank as of 1 July 2010.
Fortis Bank ran into liquidity problems in September 2008 when bankruptcy rumors caused large withdrawals by business customers.
On September 28, 2008 governments of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg purchased a 49 percent stake in Fortis N.V/S.A for $23.9 billion.
Fortis was partially nationalized and split up on 29 September among the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg.
History of Fortis
