2012-10-03 18:01:56 -

Regulated information* - 3 October 2012 (06:00 p.m. CEST)

KBC  Bank notes the  announcements made today  by the European Banking Authority
and  National  Bank  of  Belgium  regarding  the final assessment of the capital
exercise  and fulfilment  of the  EBA December  2011 Recommendation, which shows
that  KBC Bank meets the 9% Core Tier  1 ratio including the sovereign buffer as
stated in the EBA December  2011 recommendation.

Johan Thijs, KBC Group CEO welcomed today's announcements as follows: 'KBC is
satisfied with the outcome of the EBA capital exercise as it proves that KBC
Bank meets these solvency requirements, which is a reassuring signal to all
stakeholders placing their trust in our institution. KBC Bank will continue to
ensure   that appropriate capital levels are maintained.
The result is also illustrative for KBC's strong fundamentals: a healthy
customer-driven bank-insurance business model, a robust liquidity position
supported by a very solid and loyal customer deposit base in our core markets of
Belgium and Central Europe and a comfortable solvency that enables us to
continue to increase lending to our customers and actively support the
communities and economies we are active in.'


Background on the EBA capital exercise


The EBA Recommendation on the creation of temporary capital buffers to restore
market confidence was adopted by the Board of Supervisors on 8 December 2011 to
address the difficult situation in the EU banking system, especially with regard
to the sovereign exposures, by restoring stability and confidence in the
markets. The Recommendation was part of a suite of measures agreed at EU level.

The Recommendation called on National Authorities to require banks included in
the sample to strengthen their capital positions by building up an exceptional
and temporary buffer such that their Core Tier 1 capital ratio reaches a level
of 9% by the end of June 2012. In addition, banks were required to an
exceptional and temporary capital buffer against sovereign debt exposures to
reflect market prices as at the end of September 2011. The amount of the
sovereign capital buffer has not been revised.

The initial sample of the Capital Exercise included 71 banks. However, the 6
Greek banks were treated separately as the country is currently under an EU/IMF
assistance programme. Moreover, four banks (Öesterreichische Volksbank AG,
Dexia, WestLB AG and Bankia) from the original sample have been identified as
undergoing a significant restructuring process, and are being monitored
separately. Therefore, the final assessment published today refers to 61 banks.
Notes to editors:

The detailed results of the capital exercise as well as information on KBC
Bank's credit exposures and exposures to central and local governments are
provided in the accompanying disclosure tables based on the common format
provided by the EBA:

multimediafiles.kbcgroup.eu/ng/published/KBCCOM/PDF/COM_EBA_tabe ..
df

The methodology underlying the capital exercise was outlined by the EBA prior to
its announcement to ensure consistency across all banks in the EU banking system
involved in the exercise. For more details see the EBA website:
 www.eba.europa.eu .
Therefore, the information is provided only for comparison purposes and should
not in any way be directly compared to bank's other published information.

Contact details:

- Wim Allegaert, General Manager, Investor Relations, KBC Group
Tel +32 2 429 50 51 wim.allegaert@kbc.be

- Viviane Huybrecht, General Manager, Group Communication/Spokesperson, KBC
Group
Tel +32 2 429 85 45  pressofficekbc@kbc.be



About KBC

KBC (www.kbc.com) is a bank-insurer that focuses on its home markets of Belgium
and Central and Eastern Europe. Its head office is located in Brussels
(Belgium), the heart of Europe. The group employs some 47 000 full-time staff
and caters for around 11 million customers. KBC Group NV is listed on NYSE
Euronext Brussels (ticker symbol 'KBC').












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