ABN AMRO commences operations in Germany with senior appointment

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Espeler knut

ABN AMRO Lease has appointed Knut Espeler as managing director for Germany, as the company prepares to launch domestic operations in the country later this year.

 Espeler is a highly experienced executive within the German leasing market and was previously Head of Bank Leasing Services at BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions Germany. He has also served as CEO of Fortis Lease Deutschland.

He joins ABN AMRO Lease on August 1 and will lead the transition of the company’s existing crossborder activities into a local service based in Frankfurt. The process of recruiting qualified professionals to join the new German business will commence shortly.

ABN AMRO Lease is one of Europe’s leading providers of leasing and asset finance services to large and mid-sized companies. With its head office based in Utrecht in The Netherlands, the company has a portfolio of €3.2 billion and employs over 200 staff.

In June this year, ABN AMRO Lease established a new domestic business in the UK. The Belgian market continues to be covered via a cross-border model.

Frank Stienstra, CEO of ABN AMRO Lease, commented: “The German market represents an exciting growth opportunity for ABN AMRO Lease and Knut is ideally qualified to drive our ambitions in this market.”

Horst Schmidt, country executive for Germany at ABN AMRO and chairman of the board of Bethmann Bank AG, said: "Building a German subsidiary for the leasing business underlines Germany's significance as one of the most important external markets of ABN AMRO group. We are expanding the local range of services for our corporate customers in order to continually grow in the German market."

Headquartered in Amsterdam, ABN AMRO employs around 23,000 staff in 23 countries and territories worldwide. In Germany, the group offers specialised services in Commercial Finance and Merchant Banking for international companies, especially in the energy, commodities and transportation sectors, and also for financial service providers such as settlement and custody of securities.

In private banking, Bethmann Bank, one of ABN AMRO's subsidiaries, ranks among the leading players in the German market. In addition, ABN AMRO's subsidiary MoneYou offers private clients in Germany an award winning platform for overnight money and fixed-term deposits. In total, the group employs around 500 staff in Germany.