Mr Verwilghen, who spent eight years at the helm of Arval Belgium, will be responsible for implementing a cross-fertilising strategy with the aim to harmonise products and services and further improve the quality of expert advice and services.

He brings 14 years’ experience of the leasing industry and previously played a role in the considerable growth of Arval Belgium’s leased fleet.

His role of general manager for Belgium will be taken over by the current general manager of Arval Greece, Roberto Fonseca, who will look to continue developing the company on the local market.

With over 10 years’ industry experience, Mr Fonseca first joined Arval in 2005 as general manager of Arval Brazil, where he was tasked with and succeeded in developing the Brazilian subsidiary from a start-up to a market leader. In 2011, he took over the General Management of Arval Greece, turning the subsidiary into a leading service provider on the market.

Akis Liounis, CFO at Arval Greece, replaces Roberto Fonseca as general manager for Greece. Mr Liounis has more than 20 years of experience in Finance in the banking and industrial sector. In 2009, he joined Arval Hellas as CFO, where he succeeded in the challenge of developing the Finance function of the company from a start-up point.

Huib ter Braak, director of Arval’s Europe and Mediterranean Zone, commented of the appointments: ‘We are happy to be handing the Regional Management to Stéphane Verwilghen. His success in Belgium has been very convincing, and augurs well for the dynamism in the region of which he will be in charge. Choosing Roberto Fonseca as successor, we offer our Belgian subsidiary a CEO who will pursue and support its development thanks to his experience in the management of subsidiaries in Brazil and Greece.’