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, with a market capitalisation of EUR 43 billion. With excellent solvency, a presence in over 50 countries and a dedicated, professional workforce of 60,000, our company combines global strength with local flexibility.

Businesses

Fortis is the market leader in banking and insurance in the Benelux region – one of Europe’s wealthiest. Building on that leadership, we have developed an extensive European footprint in the retail banking market, operating through a variety of distribution channels. We offer skill-oriented financial services to companies, institutional clients and high net worth individuals and provide integrated solutions to the enterprise and the entrepreneur. Our unique expertise has made us a regional and in some cases global leader in niche markets, such as energy in North America and fund administration, commodities and transportation worldwide. We successfully combine our banking and insurance skills in growth markets in Europe and Asia, and we lead the market in bancassurance in the Iberian Peninsula and Malaysia.

Our strategy is underpinned by an operating model designed to maximise Fortis’s potential and create sustainable value. This enhanced operating model will enable us to better pursue our profitable and controlled growth strategy. With a more streamlined organisation in place, we intend to implement our strategy more effectively and achieve far greater consistency across the company. The enhanced model, featuring three client-centric businesses, gives us critical mass and a stronger platform for international growth. It increases cross-selling opportunities and improves our ability to drive synergies and best practices throughout both our banking and insurance operations. Five functions will support the businesses in their pursuit of growth: Strategy, Group Resources, Finance, Risk and Investments. These functions will help us to use our resources more efficiently and to realise controlled growth. Strategy drives the company’s strategic process. The aim of Group Resources is to deliver effective support services company-wide, and to help Fortis become an employer of choice and to attract international talent. Finance’s mandate is to monitor and report on Fortis’s financial performance. Risk management and investment are core activities for any financial services provider, so we have created new Executive Committee functions specifically devoted to these areas. Two key objectives of the Risk function are to develop this activity across Fortis and to enhance risk strategies. The Investments function aims to enhance Fortis-wide synergies in asset and liability management and to optimise our return on assets.

Our three core businesses are: Retail Banking, Merchant & Private Banking (formerly Merchant Banking and Commercial & Private Banking) and Insurance (formerly Insurance Belgium, Insurance Netherlands and Insurance International).

Retail Banking
We offer our financial services to retail customers – individuals, self-employed people, members of the independent professions and small businesses – through our international Retail Banking business. This business has an extensive European footprint and contributes significantly to Fortis’s overall results. We operate through a variety of distribution channels in the Benelux countries to deliver service and advice on every aspect of banking, saving, investment, credit and insurance. Our extensive retail portfolio in Turkey is served by a comprehensive and tailored product offering. In Germany, meanwhile, we focus on credit cards and consumer lending at innovative credit shops. Affluent customers and small businesses are the target groups of Fortis in Poland, while the recent acquisition of Dominet will allow us to rapidly roll out our consumer finance business in this market. In Ireland, finally, we are developing a financial services joint venture with An Post.  With over 17,000 employees, Retail Banking accounts for 24% of Fortis’s net profit. We provide a wide range of integrated financial and insurance solutions to more than six million customers via an array of proprietary and third-party distribution channels. Our proprietary channels include 1,600 branches, 2,511 Selfbank terminals and ATMs, online banking, telephone banking and call centres. Third-party distribution covers independent brokers (in Poland and the Netherlands) and non-financial outlets such as post offices and car dealers.

Merchant & Private Banking
Merchant & Private Banking encompasses a wide range of banking products and skill-oriented financial services for large international companies and institutional clients, medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs, and private banking clients. We boast a strong client franchise in the Benelux region and in selected European markets. Our solid regional or even global position in many of our products and skills means we are excellently placed to capture growth. We will pursue our focused growth strategy by combining our key client relationships and strong product franchises with identified growth opportunities. In other words, we will continue to build on our client-centric approach and leverage our core competences and strengths. International expansion is a cornerstone of our growth strategy. Where we go and what we do always supports targeted expansion of our clients and products or skills. Three key levers will allow us to achieve our objectives: revenue growth, cost efficiency and risk management.

Insurance
Fortis is a prominent player in Europe’s insurance market, in which we enjoy a top ten position. We stand out by virtue of our market leadership in the Benelux countries and our strong positions in the bancassurance and broker channels. We leverage our existing skills in distribution, operations and products from our home markets in the Benelux region and have established leading positions in selected European and Asian markets. Our top-line growth in recent years has given us attractive new business margins in life and a good combined ratio in non-life. We aim to create revenue synergies by leveraging our proven skills across borders and across businesses. At the same time, we want to achieve economies of scale in local markets and to share best practices within our organisation. To this end, we have brought all our insurance businesses under the leadership of one CEO and have created an organisational structure to support the sharing of best practices, skills and expertise across borders. We will continue to adapt our product portfolio and our multi-distribution strategy to changing customer needs and aim to capitalise on the multi-local character of the insurance sector. Finally, we will continue to invest in selected new markets in Europe and in Asia.

Fortis is a young, fast-growing, international company with high ambitions. We are looking for young professionals, specialists and managers who want to grow with us, are prepared to accept responsibility and consider freedom of action important. Are you able to think out of the box and are you interested in a career with Fortis? Then you are sure to want to know more.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Fortis we firmly believe that a workforce that reflects the diverse group of clients we serve and the communities in which we operate makes us stronger as a company. As we value the difference each individual brings and see these differences as an asset, we encourage our people to think and act differently, to be themselves and to contribute their individual skills. To demonstrate our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer diversity training to our employees all over the world.  We develop tools to support the businesses in building an inclusive workplace, we implement employment policies that ensure that our employees are treated fairly and we encourage our people to participate in various networks in order to broaden their horizons and enhance their professional growth.