New CEO at SNS Property Finance

Hans Copier has been appointed the new CEO of SNS Property Finance, the embattled real estate arm of nationalised Dutch bank SNS Reaal.

He succeeds Jaap van Dijk, who will stay on at SNS Reaal in a new role, focussing on preparing and implementing a restructuring plan for the bank as required by the European Commission.

Copier was country manager for the Netherlands at CBRE Global Investors until the beginning of this year. He was also fund manager of several Dutch real estate funds at the asset management group.

SNS Reaal was nationalised in February 2013 after booking heavy losses on its €8 bn property finance division. The Netherlands’ fourth-largest bank financed real estate projects in both the Netherlands and other European markets.

Since being bailed out, several senior-level employees at the bank are under investigation on allegations of fraud.

Van Dijk was appointed CEO of SNS Property Finance in 2010 after joining the bank as CFO in 2008. Prior to that he was CFO of DSB Bank, which collapsed in 2009.

Copier’s appointment coincides with a relocation of the bank to new premises and a rebranding operation at a later date.