The financial group Fortis said on Friday that it was replacing its chief executive as its shares fell more than 20 percent amid concerns about its liquidity.
Fortis said that Filip Dierckx, 52, who leads the banking unit, would succeed Herman Verwilst. Verwilst, who took over in July after the chief executive, Jean-Paul Votron, came under pressure for shouldering a large bill from the acquisition of a part of the Dutch bank ABN Amro just as the subprime mortgage market started to falter.
“Given his vast experience and knowledge of the company, we’re happy that Filip has accepted this challenging task,” Fortis group chairman Maurice Lippens said in a statement.
PHOTO: EPA
Fortis has been plagued by speculation about its liquidity problems, despite assurances from bank officials and politicians.
Earlier on Friday, Verwilst pledged that Fortis would not go bankrupt and said it could sell more noncore assets than previously foreseen to bolster its balance sheet.
Belgian political leaders including the finance minister, Didier Reynders, also rallied to its side, reassuring customers that bank deposits were guaranteed by the government.
Fortis shares fell sharply all week, leaving the bank’s market value on Friday at 12.2 billion euros (US$17.8 billion) — about a third of what it was at the start of the year.
That is far below the 24 billion euros Fortis paid when it, Royal Bank of Scotland and Banco Santander of Spain carved up ABN Amro just a few months before the current financial turmoil began.
Fortis said on Friday that customers had withdrawn about 3 percent of deposits since the start of the year.
The bank announced in June that it was seeking to raise 8.3 billion euros to maintain solvency goals as it absorbs the ABN Amro units, including consumer banking and asset management.
Verwilst said on Friday that the bank already had raised 3.1 billion euros, and had now identified assets worth up to 10 billion euros to help generate up to 5 billion euros of the remainder.
In June, Fortis had said it was only aiming to sell noncore assets worth about 2 billion euros.
Ivan Lathouders, an analyst with Bank Degroof in Brussels, said the 8.3 billion euros should be enough to keep the bank solvent.
But he warned that instability in the markets could lead to further falls in the bank’s share price. He also warned that more clients could withdraw their savings.
“No one really knows what will happen,” Lathouders said.
Some analysts said the tumbling value of shares in Fortis made it a takeover target.
“We see an increasing likelihood of an acquisition,” said Jaap Meijer, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort in London.
The most probable bidders, he said, would be BNP Paribas of France or the Dutch lender ING.
He also said that BNP and ING — instead of buying the bank — could purchase pieces of Fortis, like its private banking or its clearing and asset management units.
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