Francis Birkeland has been appointed Head of the Norwegian Branch of Fortis and Head of Shipping Scandinavia. He succeeds Lars Solbakken, who is becoming CEO of a publicly listed shipping company.
Francis Birkeland (37) started his banking career in 1992 with Socit Gnrale and was Vice President Finance of the Norwegian industrial group Kvaerner between 1998 and 2000. Since joining Fortis in 2000, he has been a Senior Relationship Manager at the Oslo Branch, in charge of shipping and offshore clients.
Francis Birkeland graduated from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH) and Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commercialese in Jouy-en-Josas (HEC, France), and has a post-graduate degree from the University of Mannheim (Germany).
Harris Antoniou, Global Head of Shipping at Fortis Bank, says Birkeland “has been instrumental in developing innovative and value-creating solutions for the bank’s shipping clients since he joined Fortis in 2000. We are therefore convinced that the Branch will continue on its successful path under the new leadership of Francis.”