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The Debt Agency is part of the "Administration Financing of the State and Financial Markets" which comprises also two other Divisions : "Public Debt Support" and "Financial Markets and Services". This Administration is itself integrated within the "General Administration of the Treasury" of the Federal Public Service Finance.
 
 

General Administration of the Treasury Marc Monbaliu(*), Administrator General
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ADMINISTRATION III Financing of the State and Financial Markets Alexandre De Geest, Administrator
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Belgian Debt Agency			Public Debt Support Service	Financial Markets and Services
D1	D2	D3	Omer Van Driessche, Auditor General	Viviane Buydens, Auditor General
- Anne Leclercq,   Director Treasury & Capital Markets - Stephaan De Smedt,   Assistant director	- Jean Deboutte,   Director Strategy & Risk Management - Bruno Debergh,   Assistant director Investor Relations & Product Development - Stefan Theys,   Assistant director	Back Office - Philippe Lepoutre,   Assistant director Systems - Thérèse Geels,   Assistant director
See also :
Contact persons			Contact persons (FR)	Contact persons (FR)

(*) Chairman of the Strategic Committee of the Belgian Debt Agency

The "Belgian Debt Agency" is a specific entity within the General Administration of the Treasury. It was created in 1998, just before the introduction of the EUR. That way Belgium could better cope with the new challenges linked to the creation of a European Monetary Union, in particular the increasing competition between sovereign issuers due to the development of a single market.

The Agency has a structure similar to that of the banking sector and as such has a diversified staff.

The Belgian Debt Agency consists of three divisions:

• The Front Office (D1) executes the financial operations. Its main task is to issue loans and to manage the Belgian cash position. The Agency issues several kinds of loans (linear bonds, Treasury certificates, State Notes, commercial paper, money market etc…), using therefore different issuance procedures such as auctions, syndications, placements, exchange auctions and other trading techniques (negotiations by phone or by electronic means). The Front Office is also active on the market of derivatives (mainly interest rate swaps and currency swaps).
   

• The Middle Office (D2) works out the proposals concerning the debt management strategy. These proposals are discussed within the Strategic Committee and constitute the basis of the General Guidelines that are laid down each year by the Minister of Finance. These guidelines mainly concern the structure of the debt portfolio and the risk level that may be associated with it. D2 monitors the debt portfolio and assesses the market and credit risks. It also draws up the debt budget and thus co-ordinates the debt management with the State budget. Furthermore, the Middle Office is responsible for public relations, the management of the website (www.debtagency.be) and the promotion of existing financial products, both in Belgium and abroad, as well as the development of new ones.
   

• The Back Office and Systems (D3). The Back Office is in charge of the validation and the settlement (through the National Bank of Belgium) of the financial operations carried out by the Front Office. In addition, this division also manages the Debt Agency’s IT-system. This system is based on an integrated data base involving all the financial operations related to the debt management. It enables the Treasury to watch closely its daily cash position and to calculate market and credit risks. Moreover, it is a very useful tool for elaborating reports and statistics. The main task of the Systems team is to further develop the IT-system, to supervise it and to guarantee its continuity.

The three divisions of the Debt Agency have two joint services: the Internal Audit and the Secretariat.

The Debt Agency’s staff is composed of statutory officials from the Administration of the Treasury and employees recruited in the private sector for their technical skills in matters related to financial operations, credit analysis and data processing. The staff of the Agency amounts to about forty members.

The Debt Agency is managed jointly by its Directors who together form the Executive Committee. The meetings of this committee, chaired by the Administrator of the division "Financing of the State and Financial Markets", are attended  by the Agency’s deputy directors if they are directly concerned by an item set on the agenda (financial, legal, marketing, IT, etc). The consultant auditor of the Agency attends the meetings of this committee as an observer.

The Debt Agency itself is supervised by the Strategic Committee, composed of eight members: the Administrator General of the Treasury (chairman), a representative of the Minister of Finance, the Administrator of the division "Financing of the State and Financial Markets, the three directors of the Agency and the Auditors General of the "Public Debt Support" division and the "Financial Markets and Services" division. The consultant auditor of the Agency also attends the meetings of the Strategic Committee.

Contacts

See also : Website of the Administration III (Administration Financing of the State and Financial Markets)