Brussels - Belgian insurance and banking giant KBC joined the country's bail-out club Monday by securing a capital injection of billions of euros from the state.

"KBC and the Belgian government have reached an agreement to further strengthen KBC's financial position. This will create an additional core capital buffer for KBC and enable it to cope with any future challenges," the company said in a statement.

The deal involves KBC selling 3.5 billion euros (4.3 billion dollars) worth of non-voting shares to the Belgian state.

In return, the government will have a say in how the company is run by nominating two members of KBC's board of directors.

Chief executive officer Andre Bergen said that while KBC's solvency position is "solid ... capital market sentiment has changed dramatically and has led in recent weeks to a unanimous call for higher capital requirements for financial institutions.

"In this context, it is prudent to proactively strengthen our excess capital further in order to consolidate and reinforce our competitive position, which will be to the benefit of our customers, shareholders and staff," Bergen said.

KBC is the fourth major Belgian financial group after Fortis, Dexia and ING to have required government support as a result of the global credit crunch.

KBC has 3.8 million customers in Belgium and 8.2 million spread around Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. (dpa)