Belgium nationalises Dexia retail bank in rescue deal

Dexia, the Franco-Belgian bank, has agreed to nationalise its Belgian banking division and secure state guarantees as part of a multi-billion euro rescue plan.

Belgium will pay €4bn (£3.45bn) to buy Dexia Bank Belgium, the largely retail Belgian division, which has 6,000 staff and deposits totaling €80bn from four million customers, the Telegraph reports. Dexia also secured state guarantees of up to €90bn to secure borrowing over the next 10 years. Belgium would provide 60.5% of these guarantees, France 36.5% and Luxembourg 3%. The governments rushed to support Dexia after it became the first bank to fall victim to the two-year-old eurozone debt crisis, with its shares plummeting 42% last week. "We found an agreement on the fair division ...