The Belgian banker’s oath first applied to senior management. Since 15 July 2026 it applies to everyone who takes a direct part in banking activities in Belgium, including agents in banking and investment services. The six-month period for taking the oath runs until 15 January 2027.<\/p>\n
This second phase changes the scale of the regime. It takes the disciplinary system from a few hundred people to several tens of thousands. Here is what institutions and their advisers need to know.<\/p>\n
The idea goes back to the Law of 22 April 2019, which inserted into the Banking Law of 25 April 2014 an oath and a disciplinary regime entrusted to a self-regulatory body. That law never entered into force: its implementing decrees were never adopted.<\/p>\n
The Law of 20 December 2023 on various financial provisions, published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 15 January 2024, rebuilt the project on new foundations. Self-regulation was dropped. The FSMA became the disciplinary authority. Two implementing texts followed: the Royal Decree of 28 January 2024, which lays down the individual rules of conduct, and the FSMA Regulation of 8 May 2024, approved by Royal Decree of 16 June 2024, which organises the oath-taking and the handling of complaints.<\/p>\n
The model comes from the Netherlands, where the bankierseed<\/em> and the Tuchtrecht Banken<\/em> have existed since 2015.<\/p>\n The law covers “banking service providers”, in four categories. The first comprises the persons subject to fit and proper requirements: members of the management and supervisory bodies and heads of the independent control functions. The second covers responsible managers, meaning those who exercise de facto supervision over persons in the fourth category. The third covers agents in banking and investment services who are natural persons. The fourth, the broadest, covers anyone who takes a direct part in banking activities in Belgium, including trainees, students and temporary staff.<\/p>\n The regime applies to credit institutions governed by Belgian law, Belgian branches of foreign institutions and the agents acting on their behalf. It does not apply to the staff of outsourcing providers, unless they are themselves a credit institution or an agent, nor to activities carried out under the freedom to provide services.<\/p>\n Categories 1 and 2 have been subject to the regime since 15 January 2025. Categories 3 and 4 since 15 July 2026.<\/p>\n The wording is set by law: “I commit myself to act honestly and with integrity, as well as competently and professionally in all circumstances while performing my professional activities, taking into account the interests of clients and treating them fairly. I have taken note of the specific rules established by the King in this regard.”<\/p>\n Fit and proper persons take the oath before the FSMA, which organises sessions for that purpose. The others take it before a person in charge of the effective management of their institution or agent. A written certificate is issued.<\/p>\n The deadline is six months from the entry into force of the regime for the category concerned or, for new entrants, from taking up the position. For categories 3 and 4 the deadline is therefore 15 January 2027. A person active for less than six months need not take the oath but is bound by the rules of conduct from day one.<\/p>\n The oath refers to the individual rules of conduct in the Royal Decree of 28 January 2024. They rest on three principles: act honestly and with integrity, act competently and professionally, take the interests of clients into account and treat them fairly. The decree turns these into concrete obligations, including not withholding useful information from the client and not misrepresenting the return on a product. Responsible managers must also ensure that the persons they supervise comply.<\/p>\n These rules create no new rights for clients. They add nothing to the MiFID conduct rules or to the general law of liability. Their purpose is disciplinary: they ground an individual sanction, not a claim for damages.<\/p>\nWho must take the oath?<\/h2>\n
How is the oath taken?<\/h2>\n
What does the oath commit to?<\/h2>\n
What sanctions can the FSMA impose?<\/h2>\n