Krista Baetens appointed Chief Risk Officer at ING Belgium

Krista Baetens, a member of the ING Leadership Council since September 2014, currently holds the position of Global Head of the Specialized Financing Group of ING. After nearly 20 years at ING, Krista has gained considerable management experience developing, transforming and expanding the business strategy as head of business in Asia, the Americas and Europe.

She will take over from Michael Jonker, who is set to retire on 30 September and who has held the post of CRO for the past 14 years.
In her new position, Krista Baetens will sit on the Executive Committee of ING Belgium and report hierarchically to Rik Vandenberghe, CEO of ING Belgium. She will report functionally to Wilfred Nagel, Chief Risk Officer of ING Bank NV.

"The Executive Committee and I wish to convey our heartfelt thanks to Michael Jonker for his professionalism and for the contribution he has made to ING Belgium's success over the years. Additionally, we are delighted to welcome a new member to the Executive Committee. We are convinced that Krista Baetens's experience makes her an eminently suitable successor to take on the role of Chief Risk Officer. She brings to the table deep financial expertise coupled with a strong understanding of governance and leadership. We wish her the very best of luck with her new professional responsibilities,” said Rik Vandenberghe.

"I am delighted to welcome Krista back to the Risk community. We look forward to working with her and to seeing both ING Belgium and the Risk Management function benefit from her combined Risk and commercial experience. On behalf of the Risk community, I also want to recognize and thank Michael for his extraordinary career and contribution to ING over the years. He has our sincere thanks," added Wilfred Nagel.

Krista’s appointment is subject to final approval by the regulator.

Krista Baetens

Krista (Singapore, 1970) holds a Master of Arts degree in Law from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. She started her career in 1995 at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in Brussels, and moved to Hong Kong in 1996 as a Prince Albert Fund trainee working for a Belgian family owned private equity fund. She joined ING in Hong Kong in 1998 and held a variety of front office and risk management positions over the next 10 years at ING’s offices in Hong Kong, New York and Amsterdam, notably as Director Transactional Approval, Issuer Risk Management (ING Group) in 2004-2005.

Based in Singapore from 2007 to 2012, she combined the role of Regional Head of Corporate and FI Lending for ING Asia, with the positions of Head of ING Bank Singapore and Head of Network ING South East Asia.
In 2012, she was appointed Head of Commercial Banking in Italy, where she served until 2015, when she was appointed Global Head of the Specialized Financing Group of ING.

She has received a number of awards including ING’s Global Engaging Leadership Award and nominations for ING bank-wide best practices. She was also conferred the “Laureat of Prince Albert Fund” title for her contribution to international business development in Belgium. Most recently, she qualified as a business and personal coach. She is one of the executive sponsors of the Orange Bike program in Asia, successfully launched in 2013.

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For more information:
ING Belgium press office, 02 547 24 84, [email protected]