The NewB co-operators approved the collaboration with vdk bank during a general meeting in Bozar on Saturday. A very large majority of the individual cooperatives, civil society organizations involved and institutional investors approved the necessary amendment to the Articles of Association.
NewB, a cooperative ethical bank, failed to raise 40 million euros in additional capital in the fall of 2022, preventing it from retaining its banking license.
NewB was forced to stop banking activities. But eventually an agreement was reached with vdk bank. Vdk bank takes over NewB’s customer base.
The two partners are entering into an exclusive agreement whereby NewB becomes the intermediary for vdk bank’s francophone clients in banking and investment services.
NewB’s Dutch-speaking banking customers will be served by one of vdk’s approximately 60 branches as standard. On explicit request, the Dutch-speaking customer can be served by NewB, but then it is a remote (digital) service. French-speaking customers will be served digitally by NewB as standard.
Exclusive Distributor
NewB will be an exclusive distributor of vdk bank and will therefore not offer products from other banks. The insurances that NewB offers with the help of the French insurer Monceau do not fall under the exclusivity.
The decision on the collaboration finally came to a general meeting on Saturday.
The deliberate amendment to the articles of association could count on more than 95 percent of the votes among the individual cooperatives, and this figure was also above or just below 95 percent for votes on the other amendments to the articles of association. The institutionals agreed unanimously, which was broadly also the case with the civil society organisations. The threshold for approval was 80 percent.
This article is originally published on bruzz.be
