Fortis Bank in Guernsey has been renamed MeesPierson by its owner the Dutch government as it progresses plans to break up the former banking giant into independent businesses and seek buyers.
The Fortis Guernsey trust business, which continues to share office space with what is now MeesPierson, is also to be renamed next month, as InterTrust Read.
Fortis, one of the biggest brands in European banking, underwent a tripartite nationalisation last year when it teetered on the brink of collapse at the height of the banking and subprime crisis. It is now owned by the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg governments as three separate businesses.
The separation and rebranding of the businesses forms part of a wider plan by the Dutch government to dismantle Fortis’s various operations before selling them on.
For the first time the trust business will offer services to third-parties rather than, as in the past, exclusively handling what was Fortis business.
Rick Denton, Mees Pierson commercial director, said the bank would adopt a back to basic approach to its operation, focusing on core banking, treasury and investment services to high net worth clients, trusts, companies, funds and intermediaries.
He said access to complex or opaque investment strategies would not be core its proposition, which, on the investment side, would focus more on long-only equities, cash and fixed income.
However, Denton said if clients wanted hedge funds or sophisticated investment strategies MeesPierson could supply them.
Denton said both the bank and trust company would benefit from being able to build independent lines of business and forge new partnerships.
“Many of our competitors fear the current economic recession and are afraid to change. We are taking pro-active measures to re-shape two strong businesses,” noted Denton.
