Banque du Congo Belge

On July 27, 1887, he issued a Royal decree that established the Belgian franc as the money of account for the Congo Free State, and for Ruanda-Urundi.

[2]: 319  On 10 August 1911, the same day of the enactment of the BCB's new statute, it created a local affiliate, the Banque Commerciale du Congo, which took over its commercial activities that it could no longer itself carry out under the terms of the issuance charter.

[2]: 316 With the German occupation of Belgium during World War I, the BCB was run from a temporary branch created for that purpose in London.

It created 18 new branches during the war period, in Bandundu, Basankusu, Basoko, Buta, Coquilhatville (now Mbandaka), Inongo, Kabinda, Kasongo, Kilo-Moto, Kongolo, Libenge, Lisala, Luebo, Lusamba, Niangara, Ponthierville (now Ubundu), Rutshuru, and Sandoa.

In the occupied German colonies of east Africa, it also opened offices in Kigoma and Dar es Salaam.

As a consequence, the BCB had to act practically as an autonomous central bank, including as a fiscal agent of the Belgian government in exile.

A convention of 21 January 1941 between Belgium (in exile) and the United Kingdom set a fixed parity between the Congo franc and the pound sterling and allowed the former to be quoted in London.

On this occasion, its registered office was relocated from Brussels to Léopoldville on 16 September 1952,[1]: IV  and it absorbed its local affiliate, the Banque Commerciale du Congo, on 19 November 1952.

Its name was again changed in late 1997, to Banque Commerciale Du Congo (the same name as the BCB's commercial banking affiliate from 1911 to 1952), acronymized as BCDC.

In 2004, taking advantage of the improved socio-political climate and the subsequent economic upturn, BCDC redeployed its network throughout the country and adapted its sales organization.

On 9 September 2019, Kenya-based Equity Group Holdings announced that it had acquired a controlling stake in BCDC from George Forrest.