Strategy

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Our strategy centres on three key levers for sustaining growth: reinforce our competitive position in established markets, invest in selected core competences and continue to pursue external growth.

First of all, we want to leverage our core competences. Our focus on the customer should result in greater cross-selling, and enhanced efficiency will reinforce our cost discipline. To achieve these goals, we need to understand who our customers are, why they do business with us, and how we can anticipate their needs. We have already made great strides in this area, as underscored by the awards we received in 2007. Buoyant commercial activity, too, has helped us to sustain momentum in our core markets, indicating that there are still plenty of opportunities to achieve profitable growth in our attractive and wealthy Benelux home market. At the same time, we will invest even more in front-office staff, customer-related tools and product innovation. Furthermore, we will optimise Fortis-wide assets and risk management, ensure strict cost control and pursue rigid performance and capital management.

Secondly, we will invest in growth engines – i.e. selected core competences – to enter new markets, launch new business activities and unlock new value chains. These core competences are based on a combination of customer segment and business proposition in which Fortis is a recognised expert and/or market leader. Examples are consumer finance and postal banking in Retail Banking; Asset Management; Energy, Commodities & Transportation in Merchant Banking; and the rolling out of our bancassurance model in Insurance. The opportunities we have identified worldwide will act as growth engines, bringing the core skills and expertise we have developed in the Benelux countries – all of which have a proven track record – to new customer segments and new markets. This is essentially how we plan to propel Fortis to the next stage of development.

Thirdly, we will continue to pursue external growth by making smart add-on acquisitions within strict investment criteria. Examples are O’Connor & Co., Dryden Wealth Management, Dominet, Cinergy Marketing & Trading and Pacific Century Insurance. The most recent acquisition of selected activities of ABN AMRO can be described as truly transformational. The move will allow us to accelerate the growth strategy we launched in 2005, underlining our position as one of Europe’s most dynamic and sustainable financial services providers.

This historic acquisition sets the stage for an exciting future for Fortis. We can look forward to solid long-term growth prospects in a number of selected businesses. The deal will bolster our Benelux core competences and it will give us the opportunity to leverage our capabilities in bancassurance. The transaction will also fuel international wealth management as a growth engine, operating within a single integrated network with a large European footprint and a strong Asian growth platform. What’s more, the acquisition will transform us into a leading asset manager. Based on how both companies have performed in the past, this business’s combined product range achieves scale in core growth products.

The compelling strategic logic of the acquisition became even more evident during the recent global credit crisis. These activities bring us additional distribution power, increase our retail funding capacity and – most importantly – give us a large and highly predictable earnings stream from our Benelux home market, thereby lowering our risk profile. In other words, the transaction allows us to accelerate our growth strategy, to stay true to our mission and to remain one of Europe’s most dynamic and sustainable financial services brands.

Finally, our geographic priorities remain unchanged. We want to continue to grow in our Benelux markets, to focus on Europe, and to grow selectively in North America and Asia.