Alain Van Groenendael, Arval Group;

The Arval Group has announced that, with 30 years of international experience, Alain Van Groenendael has become Chairman and CEO of the group, specialised in full service vehicle leasing, from 1 January 2019.

Alain Van Groenendael spent a large part of his career at Citibank in a wide variety of roles and locations, culminating as CEO of Consumer Bank, Western Europe and member of the Citigroup Management Committee. He has also held the posts of Chairman of the Loans & Financial Services Division at the PPR Group and Chairman & CEO of Finaref.

In 2008, he was appointed Board member and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas Personal Finance. In 2015 he was appointed Chairman of the company and joined the Management Committees of both International Financial Services and Retail Banking at BNP Paribas Group. He played a leading role in the international development of the group by forming many strategic partnerships in the financial services, vehicle and distribution industries, as well as encouraging the digital transformation of the company.

From November 2017 to June 2018, he was the Chairman of Opel Vauxhall Finance.

At the same time, Alain Van Groenendael was also Vice-President of the ASF (French Association of Specialised Financial Companies) and President of Eurofinas (European Federation of Finance House Associations).

Alain Van Groenendael stated “it is with great pride that I am joining Arval. I would like to acknowledge the work of my predecessor Philippe Bismut, who has shown responsibility and boldness during his eight years at the head of Arval. It is now my responsibility to bring further innovative support and solutions to adapt our offer to continuously changing mobility needs. Arval's employees in 29 countries around the world can count on my total commitment to our success.”

Alain Van Groenendael is a graduate of ICHEC Brussels Management School and also a qualified Sales Engineer from Saint-Louis University in Brussels.