Fortis appoints first chief executive

BRUSSELS - Fortis, the Dutch-Belgian financial group announced yesterdaythe appointment of Anton van Rossum as the group's first chief executiveofficer following the decision to get rid of its dual management set-up. He will officially take up his post in September replacing Fortis' dualexecutive co-chairmen Maurice Lippens and Hans Bartelds. They will bothcontinue as full time non-executive chairmen. Mr Lippens said: "We wantto put turbo power into this business and maybe grow larger, not just insize but also profit." Mr Lippens said Mr Van Rossum, a senior partner atUS management consultancy firm McKinsey, had ambitious strategies for thegroup.