[4] AMEV had originally been founded in Utrecht in 1920 as Algemeene Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Verzekeringsmaatschappijen (English: General Society for Operation of Insurance).

[4] After its creation, Fortis extended its activities to private and investment banking and to asset management, establishing subsidiaries internationally, and by 2007 it had become the 20th largest business in the world by revenue.

[5] That year Fortis agreed to purchase ABN AMRO jointly with Banco Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland Group, but the 2007-10 financial crisis exacerbated problems with financing its part of the acquisition and prompted fears of insolvency.

[12] Ageas Insurance International also operates in France and Hong Kong and holds partnerships or joint ventures in Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, China, Malaysia, India and Thailand.

In addition, Ageas holds 45% of Royal Park Investments,[10] a special purpose vehicle[13] which manages a portfolio of "toxic" structured credit assets[14] previously held by Fortis Bank.