KBC group announced that it has decided to appoint Bartel Puelinckx as new Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Committee of the company. He will succeed Luc Popelier, who resigned to take up the position of CEO of Hamburg Commercial Bank (Germany) as of 1 September 2024. Bartel Puelinckx's appointment will take effect on 1 September 2024.

Bartel started his career in trade finance at Kredietbank (Belgium) in 1992. In 2002, he was appointed group-wide relationship manager for major multinational business clients. From 2006 to 2010, he worked for K&H, the Hungarian subsidiary of KBC group.

After being nominated to the Executive Committee of K&H in 2007, he took charge of HR management and credit policy. He was Chief Finance Officer for KBC's Czech subsidiary CSOB from 2010 to 2014. He returned to Belgium in July 2014 where he was appointed Senior General Manager of KBC Group Finance, and became responsible for Group Finance, Group Tax and Financial Insights & Communication (Investor Relations).