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FORTIS (PINKSHEETS:FORSY) The Board of Directors of Fortis and M. Jean-Paul Votron have decided, by mutual agreement and in the interest of the Group, to terminate the mandate of M. Jean-Paul Votron as Fortis CEO.
Herman Verwilst, currently Fortis deputy CEO and executive member of the Board, has agreed to take over the Group CEO function. The board is convinced that Herman Verwilst, given his longstanding experience in Fortis, is well equipped to lead the company in these challenging times and environment.
The Board has decided to start an executive search within, and outside, the company for the future succession of the CEO.
These decisions can only become official pending approval by the financial regulators CBFA in Belgium and DNB in the Netherlands.
The members of the Board wish to thank M. Votron for his commitment to Fortis during the past four years. He has made a crucial contribution to the development of Fortis and has transformed the company, thanks to important strategic decisions, into a more international group. The Board has always, jointly and in confidence, supported the plans proposed by the management under his leadership. In this respect, we refer a.o. to the acquisition of ABN AMRO and the recent solvency plan. Further to his departure, M. Votron will receive a contractual compensation equivalent to his current annual base salary.
Attached: CV of HermanVerwilst
To the editors: The half year results will be presented in Brussels on 4 August 2008 in presence of Herman Verwilst
Fortis is an international provider of banking and insurance services to personal, business and institutional customers. We deliver a total package of financial products and services through our own high-performance channels and via intermediaries and other partners. Fortis ranks among Europe's top 20 financial institutions. Together with ABN AMRO, we have a presence in over 50 countries and a dedicated, professional workforce of more than 85,000. All this makes us a leader in financial services in Europe, a top 3 private banker and a top tier asset manager. More information is available at www.fortis.com.
Herman Verwilst Executive Director of Fortis SA/NV and Fortis N.V. Deputy CEO Chairman of the Board Of Directors of Fortis Bank Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fortis Insurance Extraordinary Professor at the Financial Economics Department of the University of Ghent
Herman Verwilst was born in Sint-Amandsberg (Ghent, Belgium) in 1947.
He has a Master's degree in Economics (Ghent, 1970) and a Ph. D. in Economics (The Johns Hopkins University, USA, 1974).
He was Chairman of Fortis Bank's Management Committee from July 1998 until January 2008. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fortis Bank and Fortis Insurance since January 2008. H. Verwilst took on additional roles in the company when he was named Deputy CEO in September 2000, Chief Operating Officer from October 2004 until December 2007, and Executive Director of Fortis SA/NV and Fortis N.V. in May 2007. Prior to his current appointments, H. Verwilst worked in various positions within Fortis in the 1990s.
Prior to working for Fortis, H. Verwilst held various positions in both academia and government, including Chief of Staff of the Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning, a member of the Belgium Senate. He was a lecturer and professor at the University of Ghent, a visiting professor at Padjadjaran University in Bandung, Indonesia, and taught at the University of Maryland. He also worked as an economist for the International Monetary Fund. At present, he is still teaching at Ghent University.
H. Verwilst's current board memberships include the Instituto de Empresa International Advisory Board. He is also a former director of the Institute of International Finance and the International Monetary Conference.
He holds several mandates within the Fortis group and published extensively in both national and international journals on exchange rate problems, monetary policy and international finance.
