The Flemish and Walloon governments are prepared to consider a sale of the Liège-based IT firm Keyes, they have informed Finance Minister Jan Jambon. Keyes is a subsidiary of the insurer Ethias, which is state-owned. This is according to the financial newspapers *De Tijd* and *L’Echo*.
The Liège-based IT group Keyes, formerly known as NRB, is at the centre of strategic deliberations by the federal government, the Walloon Region and Flanders. These deliberations centred on a possible merger between Ethias and Belfius. Ethias is the IT company’s majority shareholder (83 per cent), together with Nethys and Wallonie Entreprendre. Flanders and Wallonia have made it clear to the federal government that they do not wish to sell their stakes in Ethias, leading to the plan to merge the insurer with Belfius being scrapped at an early stage. However, the federated entities have informed Jambon that they are not opposed to a sale of Keyes.
Keyes is a major player in Belgium. The group employs 3,700 people, generating a total turnover of 645 million euros and a net profit of 43 million euros. CEO Laurence Mathieu previously stated that she aims to increase the group’s turnover to 900 million euros by 2029. Since April 2026, when the new name for NRB was announced as Keyes (Key + eyes), virtually all entities within the group have been brought under its umbrella. These include NRB, Win, Computerland, Prodata, Transys and Trigone. In addition, Keyes also has three separate ICT companies: Cevi, Zorgi and Civadis.
Keyes has recently begun collaborating with Cegeka on a sovereign infrastructure and associated services.
