Widely recognised for its expertise in supporting Belgian bond issuers on the financial markets, Belfius is launching Dot-Capital, a digital platform aimed at directly connecting investors and (semi-)public entities and companies of all sizes: large companies, real estate developers, cities and provinces, Regions and Communities, schools and universities, hospitals and so on, wishing to diversify their sources of financing in the short, medium or long term. It is a first in Belgium
With approximately 400 long-term issues for a total amount of EUR 18.9 billion since 2013, Belfius has established itself in recent years as a reference partner for Belgian companies and entities in the (semi-)public sector looking for alternatives, in addition to traditional bank loans, with which to diversify their financing.
In order to meet the needs of its customers, who are increasingly turning to this alternative form of financing, Belfius has developed Dot-Capital, a digital platform the objective of which is to offer investors and issuers direct and fully secure access to primary market bond issues set up on behalf of companies and public (and semi-public) entities in Belgium.
By making it easier for its customers to access the capital market in order to raise the necessary funds to finance their growth and projects, Belfius is once again clearly confirming its role as a driving force for the Belgian economy.
Offering the best digital customer experience to issuers and to investors
With Dot-Capital, Belfius now offers issuers and investors a fully digitised primary market debt issuance process. Multiple functionalities are thus made available to them: personalised and real-time alerts when new issues are available, online document storage and consulting, online order entry, transaction tracking, maturity date management and so on. The overall objective is to guarantee them a first-class digital user experience, whether they are looking for investment opportunities or want to use the bond markets to fund their company and their projects.
By bringing together and connecting issuers and investors on a single platform, Dot-Capital is actively contributing to the further development of debt issuance activity on the primary market by providing it with increased automation, transparency and efficiency benefiting all stakeholders.
A platform for European ambitions
The objective of Belfius is to make Dot-Capital a digital Market Place, operating 24/7 and where investors and bond issuers can interact directly, without the bank's intermediation - but always with its support available to its customers - and in total transparency on prices and counterpartie
With this platform, which is unique in Belgium, Belfius confirms not only its leadership in digital innovation but also the leading role it intends to play in a growing and evolving bond market.
The launch of Dot-Capital is therefore fully in line with Belfius strategy, which aims to provide its customers, whoever they may be, with real added value through an innovative approach whereby people and digital solutions combine and complement each other in meeting their specific needs better in an increasingly complex and globalised environment.
Belfius' ambition is to open Dot-Capital to other banking partners, so that it becomes the reference digital platform for investors and bond issuers on the primary market in Europe.
Dot-Capital was developed in collaboration with the Belgian fintech company The Glue, created in 2015 by Jurgen Ingels and Stefan Dierckx.
Jurgen Ingels and Stefan Dierckx, co-founders and members of the management board of The Glue: “This online marketplace has the potential to revolutionise the way in which banks and their corporate customers, governments and municipalities do business. The Glue is a proud partner of Dot-Capital. We power the primary debt capital markets solution with our API-based platform that connects all actors to make international trading faster and more comfortable.”
Dirk Gyselinck, member of the management board of Belfius Bank: “At Belfius, we are always committed to thinking about the best financing solutions for our customers, based on their situation, market conditions and so on. We have long been convinced that financing on the bond markets can be of interest not only to large companies, but also to smaller entities, whether they are corporate customers, cities or municipalities, inter-municipal companies, universities, hospitals, and the like. That is why, through Dot-Capital, we want to make it even easier for them to access investors on the capital market and thus open up new opportunities for them to support their growth and the development of their projects.”