The name Fortis will soon disappear in the Netherlands and Belgium, the firm said on Wednesday during its annual results announcement. In the Netherlands, a number of branches will be closed and the remaining branches will use the ABN Amro logo. Belgian insurer Fortis will change its name to Ageas.
Fortis Group, which was split into various banking and insurance entities last year after a speedy nationalisation was needed to keep it afloat, booked a net result of €1.2bn. Its branded retail banking arm was bought from the Belgian government by BNP Paribas. The name 'ageas' is not capitalised in the company logo: the first two letters refer to the foundation of AG Leven in 1824; EA stands for Europe and Asia, the core markets of the bank; and AS stands for assurance, the core task of the firm, it said: "The new name shows who we are, what we do and what our priorities are."
The insurer is the market leader in Belgium while the international branch is active in the UK, Luxembourg, Portugal and East Asia. The group is among the 20 largest insurers in the world.
SRP lists 568 products, spread over nine different databases, linked to the Fortis Group: Belgium (108), France (19), Hong Kong (6), International (3), Japan (14), Switzerland (12), Taiwan (22), The Netherlands (218) and USA (166).