Karl Guha becomes new chairman of the supervisory board at ING | Economy

Shareholders still have to approve the appointment at the shareholders’ meeting on April 24. The European Central Bank has already approved the appointment.

Dutchman Guha, born in India, started his career in 1989 at ABN Amro. He later switched to Unicredit, one of the largest Italian banks. There he was on the board of directors.

In 2013, Guha became the CEO of the Van Lanschot Kempen bank. That appointment led to a riot, because Guha received a signing bonus of 750,000 euros. According to Guha and the bank, that welcome bonus was compensation for lost rewards at Unicredit.

Guha implemented a major reorganization immediately after taking office. He also transformed the bank into an asset manager, aimed at wealthy private clients.

That also led to commotion, because Van Lanschot at one point showed ‘poor’ customers the door. Anyone with less than half a million euros in assets was kindly referred to another bank, a savings account or to Evi, the bank’s digital asset manager.

In 2021, Guha stepped down as chairman of the board. He wanted to spend more time with his family and other things that make life worthwhile, he said in a farewell interview with the Telegraph.

But Guha also remained active in business. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of SHV, the company of the Fentener van Vlissingen family, and an advisor at the investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Guha succeeds Hans Wijers, an icon in Dutch business, at ING. D66’er Wijers became known as minister of economic affairs in the first Kok cabinet from 1994 to 1998. He then became chairman of the board at paint and chemical company Akzo Nobel and held many supervisory directorships at large Dutch companies.

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