KBC Group: KBC Group changes and expands Executive

Press release Outside trading hours - Regulated information*

Brussels, 17 March 2017 (8.15 a.m. CET, before trading hours)

KBC Group changes and expands Executive Committee

With effect from 5 May 2017 (the day after the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders), KBC Group is making a number of changes to its Executive Committee:

• Luc Gijsens, International Markets Business Unit CEO, who is turning 64 in 2017, has announced his intention to resign after a career of 40 years.  
• Luc Popelier, currently KBC Group CFO, will replace Luc Gijsens as CEO of the International Markets Business Unit.  
• Rik Scheerlinck, presently CEO of K&H Bank and Country CEO, Hungary, will become a member of the Executive Committee and will succeed Luc Popelier as KBC Group CFO.  
• Erik Luts, appointed Chief Innovation Manager in 2016, will become the seventh member of the Executive Committee in the new position of Chief Innovation Officer . Besides managing KBC Group's innovation and digitalisation agenda, he will also head up ICT and the Shared Services Unit.  
• Rik Scheerlinck will be replaced as CEO of K&H Bank and Country CEO, Hungary, by David Moucheron, the current CEO of CBC Banque in Belgium, subject to the approval of the Hungarian regulator.  
• The appointments of Luc Popelier, Rik Scheerlinck and Erik Luts have been approved by the European Central Bank and National Bank of Belgium.  
• The successor to David Moucheron at CBC Banque will be announced at a later date. In the interim, David will be replaced by Jean-Pierre Jansen, Executive Director and Member of the Executive Committee of CBC Banque.

                                 Thomas Leysen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KBC Group , commented as follows on the appointments announced today : 'On behalf of the Board of Directors of KBC Group, I would like to thank Luc Gijsens for his commitment and the effort he has put in in the past years - in sometimes difficult circumstances - to help shape and build our international activities . We are convinced that Luc Popelier will be a strong successor, who will put his extensive knowledge and experience to good use. In choosing Rik Scheerlinck, the Board of Directors has opted for another dynamic CFO with a broad international experience and excellent track record in the financial industry. Given the many changes the financial industry is going through and the many challenges our group needs to respond to astutely and correctly, we have no doubt that Erik Luts will be a major asset to the Executive Committee. We further believe that David Moucheron is the right person to continue developing successfully our business in Hungary. The Executive Committee has all the knowledge and talent it needs to confidently head to the future. Our clients, staff, shareholders and all other stakeholders can be rest assured that our company is in good hands.'

Johan Thijs, KBC Group CEO added the following: ' I have been working closely with Luc Gijsens in the Executive Committee for several years now. My colleagues and I are extremely grateful to him for his years of dedication in various roles, and for his support, unconditional engagement and important contribution to our group's development. Thanks to his sharp strategic insight, his brilliant knowledge of business and his excellent leadership qualities, he succeeded in making the International Markets Business Unit profitable again in difficult circumstances. We wish Luc the very best on his retirement after 40 years of active career and hope he makes the most of having some more time for himself and his family. I am delighted that Luc Popelier has agreed to take over from Luc Gijsens at the helm of the International Markets Business Unit. I truly believe that his extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of economic and financial affairs will allow him to make a significant contribution to the continued development of our group in our core markets in Central Europe and Ireland.'

On the recommendation of the KBC Group Nomination Committee, the Board of Directors of KBC Group has appointed Rik Scheerlinck as a new member of the Executive Committee and the successor to Luc Popelier as KBC Group CFO . Rik is currently CEO of K&H Bank and Country CEO, Hungary. He will be replaced by David Moucheron , presently CEO of CBC Banque in Belgium.

Regarding these nominations Johan Thijs had this to say: 'I am also happy to welcome Rik Scheerlinck to our Executive Committee. Besides his long professional and international experience, Rik has a very broad knowledge of our Central European core markets. Over the past few years, he has steered our business in Hungary through some very difficult times and made our group there even more prepared for the challenges that lie ahead. Rik is not only a business manager, he also has years of experience in finance roles behind him. Thanks to his experience in the market and deep knowledge of and involvement in the local market, his successor, David Moucheron, has managed since his appointment as CEO of CBC Banque to quickly win the trust of CBC's clients, staff and other stakeholders alike, and thus continue the expansion of CBC Banque in Wallonia. I am, therefore, delighted that he is going to lead the K&H team.'

David Moucheron's successor at CBC Banque will be announced at a later date.

In addition, the Board of Directors of KBC Group has appointed Erik Luts as the seventh member of the Executive Committee and Chief Innovation Officer of KBC Group. Erik Luts is currently Chief Innovation Manager of the group, reporting directly to Johan Thijs, KBC Group CEO. He combines this role with the position of Senior General Manager, Direct Channels & Support at the Belgium Business Unit, where he reports to Daniel Falque, Belgium Business Unit CEO. To stress the importance of, growing focus on, and enormous investment in innovation and digital transformation, the Executive Committee has decided to include the new position of Chief Innovation Officer in the KBC Group Executive Committee. As Chief Innovation Officer, Erik Luts will prepare and manage the group's innovation and digital transformation agenda and will also head up ICT and the Shared Services Unit.

On this appointment, Johan Thijs concluded : 'Innovation and digital transformation are becoming more and more important. We have invested heavily in both in recent years and will focus even more on them in the years to come. Consequently, we have decided to add a new member to the Executive Committee to take exclusive responsibility for this agenda. Erik has behind him a comprehensive and international experience, and has proved in recent years his awareness of and alertness for what is going on and changing in the world around us. So we are very happy that he has agreed to boost our team.'

Editor's note:

Mr Rik Scheerlinck is a graduate in law from the University of Leuven (Belgium) and has a degree in economics. He has been working for the Kredietbank/KBC group since 1984. He started at the International Credit Department in Brussels and held various positions in the United States (Senior Credit Adviser in the New York Branch and Regional Manager in Atlanta), Taiwan (Manager of the Kredietbank Representative Office in Taipei), Germany (General Manager of KBC Bank Operations) and back to the United States in 1999 as General Manager of KBC North America. He joined CSOB in the second half of 2006 and was appointed a member of the Management Board and Chief Financial and Risk Officer there. Since 2010, he has been CEO of K&H Bank, KBC Group's banking subsidiary in Hungary, and Country CEO, Hungary.

Mr Erik Luts has a Master's Degree in Pedagogy from the University of Leuven (Belgium). Between 1985 and 1988, he held various positions, including with the University of Leuven, teaching at a technical college ('Hogeschool')  and working as an after-sales representative for an Apple dealer. He began his career with the Kredietbank/KBC group in 1988 as Computer Literacy & Self-Study Training Manager, and was promoted to Payments & E-Banking Product Manager in 1991. At that time he was also made a member of the Management Committee for Isabel (the main supplier of multi-bank services for business users in Belgium set up in 1995 on the initiative of four large banks, including the Kredietbank/KBC). In 1996, he was appointed ICT Manager for the branch network, then General Manager, ICT Development, and in 2003, General Manager of the ICT Data Centre. From 2004 to 2006, he was a Member of the Management Committee of Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB), KBC's banking subsidiary in Slovenia, where he was responsible for ICT and preparing NLB for the introduction of the euro. He returned to Belgium in 2006 in the role of General Manager, Training, Education & Recruitment. He was Senior General Manager, HR, Facility Services & Financial Reporting at the Belgium Business Unit of the KBC group from 2008 to 2013. He has been Senior General Manager, Direct Channels & Support at that business unit since 2013 and was additionally appointed Chief Innovation Manager for the KBC group in 2016.

Mr David Moucheron graduated with a Master's Degree in Law from the Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, in 1996, and obtained a Master's Degree in Tax Law from the Fiscale Hogeschool/EHSAL in Brussels in 1998 and a Master's Degree in Law from Columbia Law School in New York in 2000. He began his career as an attorney at the bar in Brussels with de Bandt, van Hecke & Lagae (now Linklaters) and from 2000 to 2005 worked as a Management Consultant for McKinsey & Company in Brussels. In 2006, he became Sales Director and member of the management team of Fortis Retail Banking and was later appointed Secretary General of the Group Executive Committee and Chief of Staff of Fortis Group (now BNP Paribas Fortis). He was CEO of bpost bank - a joint venture of De Post and BNP Paribas Fortis established in 1995 - from 2009 to 2015. He was appointed CEO of CBC Banque in Belgium on 1 December 2015.

Composition of the KBC Group Executive Committee from 5 May 2017

If you would like a photograph of Erik Luts, Rik Scheerlinck or David Moucheron please e-mail the KBC Group Press Office at pressofficekbc@kbc.be . CVs and photographs of the members of the KBC Group Executive Committee are in the Corporate Governance section of www.kbc.com .

Contacts

Viviane Huybrecht, General Manager, Corporate Communication/KBC Group Spokesperson Tel. + 32 2 429 85 45 E-mail pressofficekbc@kbc.be

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