Bart A. Pattyn - Board Biography
Independent Non-Executive Director | Audit & Risk Chair | Former International CEO
Bart A. Pattyn is a Belgian independent non-executive director and former international CEO with extensive board and executive experience in banking, insurance and other regulated financial institutions, complemented by substantial experience in export credit and public-private organisations. His board expertise combines audit and financial oversight, risk governance, strategy and transformation with substantial international operating experience.
He currently serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), the United Arab Emirates' federal export credit company, and as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Argenta Bank & Insurance Group in Belgium.
At ECI, his board responsibilities include membership of the Strategy & Transformation Committee and the Nomination & Remuneration Committee. His experience in export credit and credit insurance builds on more than two decades in the sector, including his former chairmanship of SBCE – Seguradora Brasileira de Crédito à Exportação and senior executive responsibilities with Coface.
At Argenta, he has served as an independent director since 2021 and chairs the Audit and Risk Committees for the insurance activities within the group. His board work encompasses financial integrity, risk appetite, capital, solvency and liquidity, internal controls, regulatory dialogue, cyber and data governance, and oversight of regulated banking and insurance activities.
Board and governance experience
Bart's board experience spans private, public-private and internationally regulated organisations. In addition to ECI and Argenta, he served for ten years as Chairman of SBCE, the Brazilian export credit insurer operating at the intersection of government, financial institutions, exporters and international trade. He has also served on the Air France KLM Mexico Advisory Board.
Much of his career has been spent where commercial objectives, regulation and public or shareholder interests meet, from banking and insurance to export credit and public-private organisations.
His principal areas of board contribution are Audit & Financial Oversight, Risk Governance, and Strategy & Transformation Oversight. He brings an independent and pragmatic approach to board challenge, with particular attention to the quality of management information, the effectiveness of internal controls, risk appetite and accountability between boards and executive management.
Read more about my approach to Audit & Risk governance
International executive experience
Before concentrating increasingly on board and governance roles, Bart built an international executive career across Europe, Latin America, Asia and other global markets.
As President & CEO Latin America, Regional CEO Asia Pacific and a member of the Coface Group Executive Committee, he led regulated credit-insurance activities across multiple international markets and worked extensively with banks, insurers, exporters, brokers, governments and sovereign export credit institutions. His responsibilities included strategy, growth, risk management, organisational transformation and governance of regulated insurance businesses.
Earlier in his career, he held senior international banking roles with KBC Group, including serving as Founding CEO of KBC India. He built the Indian banking operation from inception, secured regulatory approval and achieved profitability within nine months, following earlier assignments in Ireland, Spain, Singapore and New York, including responsibilities involving the establishment and development of banking activities in new markets and interaction with regulators.
His subsequent interim executive and advisory work has included serving as Interim Chief Compliance Advisor at STADA/EG, leading the strategic carve-out of De Watergroep's industrial and wholesale water activities into Azulatis, and building a Lloyd's-backed specialty-risk MGA.
Across these roles, he has built and led multicultural management teams through growth, restructuring, acquisitions, integrations and leadership transitions, working with employees, management teams, shareholders, regulators, governments and social stakeholders across very different organisational cultures.
Sector and committee expertise
His principal sector experience includes banking, insurance, export credit and credit insurance, regulated financial institutions, utilities and water, pharmaceuticals, aviation services, public-private organisations, internationally operating businesses, government-related enterprises and private equity portfolio companies.
His strongest board and committee fit is in Audit Committees, Risk Committees, combined Audit & Risk Committees, Strategy & Transformation Committees, and Nomination & Remuneration Committees.
His governance experience includes financial reporting and controls, risk appetite frameworks, solvency and liquidity, ICAAP/ILAAP and ORSA environments, compliance, internal audit, the three lines model, cyber and data governance, regulatory interaction and the governance of major transformation programmes.
Governance credentials and international perspective
Bart is an INSEAD-certified international director (IDP-C) and a GUBERNA Certified Director. He has also been assessed Fit & Proper by the National Bank of Belgium for regulated financial-services board responsibilities.
A Belgian national with extensive international experience, he has lived and worked across several continents and operates professionally in multiple European languages. His international background enables him to contribute particularly to boards dealing with cross-border businesses, different regulatory environments and culturally diverse management teams.
He holds a Master of Engineering in Computer Science from KU Leuven, adding an engineering and analytical perspective to digital transformation, cyber resilience, technology risk and AI governance.
His approach to governance combines the perspective of an independent director with the practical understanding of a former international CEO: independent challenge without crossing the boundary between governance and executive management.
Further information:
Board CV - Board Profile - Linkedin - Advisory - Interim management experience