Crédit Agricole Belgium has announced that it will change its name and the name of its Centea subsidiary to Crelan.
The new name is derived from Crédit Agricole and Landbouwkrediet - its bank in Flanders - and will come into effect on 4 April 2013, when the legal merger between Crédit Agricole Belgium and Centea is completed.
In 2011 Crédit Agricole Belgium acquired Centea- a well-known distributor of structured funds - from KBC. Since then the bank has increased its activity in the market for structured products: so far this year in Belgium, it has sold €73m worth of structured funds, issued via French asset manager Amundi, and structured notes, issued via Société Générale.
The name change is one of many in the financial industry in Belgium in recent months. Earlier this year SRP reported on the christening of Belfius (previously known as Dexia Bank Belgium), while Citibank Belgium will also be renamed later this year following its takeover by BKCP in May.
"Dexia's name change cost the bank €45m," Groupe Crédit Agricole's chief executive, Luc Versele, told local media. "For us it's going to be a fraction of that amount."
Crédit Agricole has budgeted €70m for the full integration of Centea, including the name change.