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Bloomberg
ING Groep NV, under fire after paying one of the biggest fines ever given to a Dutch lender, ousted Chief Financial Officer Koos Timmermans, who had once been responsible for the division caught up in a money-laundering probe.
The 22-year ING veteran will stay in his position until a successor is found, the Amsterdam-based bank said, adding that it was appropriate for a senior executive to take responsibility for the scandal. During part of the period investigated by Dutch prosecutors, Timmermans headed the bank’s Netherlands unit, which was at the center of the probe.
The CFO’s departure may buy some time for Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers, who faced a barrage of criticism from politicians and shareholders this year even before the bank agreed last week to pay about $900 million to settle a Dutch investigation into corrupt practices by a former client. ING’s shares, among the worst performers among European banks this year, approached a two-year low.
“This resignation is likely to ease pressure on CEO Hamers to step down,†Robin van den Broek, an analyst at Mediobanca, said by email.
Timmermans, who hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, joined ING in 1996 and had been a member of the executive team since 2007, when he was appointed as the company’s first chief risk officer on the executive board. In 2011 he became vice-chairman of the management board for banking. He was appointed chief financial officer in 2017.
The Dutch investigation focused on the bank’s role in matters including unusual payments by the former VimpelCom Ltd. to a company owned by a Uzbek government official.