A global crisis is the litmus test of a bank’s fitness to serve its customers. In Belgium, bank-insurer KBC Group has proven throughout the COVID-19 upheaval that it is equipped to weather the storm and make lasting improvements that will outlive the pandemic into the future. Guided by its PEARL+ cultural philosophy and dedication to digitalisation, KBC continues to help all of its stakeholders realise their dreams while protecting them.
Belgium’s bank-insurer KBC Group has learned through experience that thinking differently and aiming for the next level is the surest way to meet its goals of enabling customers as they realize their dreams and protecting them as they progress. In our interview, CEO Johan Thijs explains how KBC is leading through one of the most challenging times the financial and insurance industries have experienced, with its focus trained on customers.
Mr. Simon Hughes of International Banker travels to Belgium to interview Mr. Johan Thijs, Chief Executive Officer, KBC Group, on the bank’s ongoing digital transformation, the innovation that drives that transformation and KBC’s wider role in society.
“We put our clients’ interests at the heart of what we do and strive to offer them at all times a high-quality service and relevant solutions.” That is one of the four cornerstones that make up the overarching business strategy of KBC Group, the Brussels-headquartered bank-insurer that has emerged over the last few years as one of Europe’s strongest and most formidable financial institutions.
KBC Group, one of Belgium’s top bank-insurers, is guided by its purpose to “help all our stakeholders realise their dreams and protect them”. With core markets across Europe, KBC is imbued by a corporate culture that it has dubbed with the acronym PEARL. Mr. Thijs and Mr. Luts describe how the bank-insurance group is employing its latest digital strategies to actualize its long-standing vision.
On June 8, the European Central Bank (ECB) began its Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP), which was initially announced by the bank’s president, Mario Draghi, on March 10 as an addendum to the ECB’s quantitative easing (QE) program.