dexia was born in 1996 from the alliance of two top-level operators in local public sector financing in europe: crédit communal de belgique and crédit local de france. the established banking group was the result of one of the very first cross-border mergers in the european banking sector and is classified among the fifteen largest financial institutions in the euro zone. dexia services two principal markets: local authorities and similar institutions on a global scale and the retail market, mostly in belgium and luxembourg.

the business line public & project finance and credit enhancement covers three main activities. in particular, public finance consists of financing the needs of local public authorities or other public service organizations, in the form of direct loans, signed commitments, liquidity guarantees or the purchase of securities issued by customers. dexia offers its clients an entire range of products - including structured loans as well as debt management - to optimize their debt portfolio profile. in addition, dexia is one of the major players worldwide in project finance. priority is given to essential infrastructures （transportation, environment etc.） and the renewable energy sector. as one of the largest banks in belgium, dexia also supplies finance to corporate borrowers. on top of that, dexia insures municipal bonds and infrastructure deals, as well as asset-backed securities （abs） through its american based aaa-rated subsidiary, financial security assurance （fsa）.

as a leading world operator on the market for local public sector financing, the group has branches or subsidiaries in 26 markets. on its home markets, i.e. belgium and france, dexia is present with market shares of 80% and 42% respectively. 50% of its business is developed internationally. in belgium, dexia also finances mid-sized and large corporate clients. size, innovation, expertise and a long-term view are the key ingredients of dexia’s success in this business line.