What is the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises?
The CBE centralises the basic data of enterprises and establishment units and disseminates them to various competent government departments. Each company and establishment unit receives a unique identification number from the CBE, your company number. Thanks to this number, governments can exchange data more easily and quickly. And you only have to submit your data to the government once.
What is the purpose of the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises?
As a self-employed person, there are two ways in which you can use the CBE:
- To ensure that your company data is correct
- To look up data of other companies
Correct data in the CBE
As an entrepreneur, it’s important that your data is up to date. For a number of support measures, such as the sme portfolio, the government uses the data in the CBE. If they are incorrect, you may lose the right to certain subsidies or support measures.
Updating data in the CBE free of charge
Did you know that you can change some of the data in the CBE yourself? You can do that in consultation with the enterprise counter experts or via the tool 'My Enterprise'. Think of company data such as:
- Address
- Contact
- Name
- Bank account
- And more.
You sign in with your electronic identity card, token or mobile app.
Looking up data in the CBE
There are public data that anyone can consult via the free ‘CBE Public Search’. This search function shows you the public data of all entities registered in the CBE and all establishment units. All businesses, regardless of their status (active, published or discontinued) are visible.
Is the business solvent?
By consulting the CBE's data, you can find out whether the enterprise is sufficiently solvent and/or still active. Thus, you can avoid cooperating with a business in difficulties.
How do you do that? Simply by using the enterprise number, or the name of the enterprise and/or postcode.
Applying for a CBE extract
It may be that a supplier, partner or the government wants proof that your company actually exists. Then you provide such proof by way of a CBE extract. There are different kinds, depending on the purpose or place you need them for.
What is an extract from the Crossroads Bank?
You can consider the document as your company's birth certificate. The document states your basic details, the activities you carry out, the number of establishments and more.
When do you need an extract?
There are several reasons why you might need one. Think about:
- A supplier who wants to check up on your activities
- You want to invest abroad
- You apply for a licence or bank account abroad
Types of CBE extracts
There are 3 types of extracts:
- An ordinary extract is usually sufficient for national purposes
- A non-legalised extract is similar to the ordinary one, but for use abroad
- Finally, you may be required to produce a legalised extract. In that case, the FPS Foreign Affairs must attach proof of authenticity to the extract.
