Background
Tilmant, Michel was born in 1952 in Belgium.
economist private sector banker
Tilmant, Michel was born in 1952 in Belgium.
Tilmant, a French speaking Belgian, graduated from the Université catholique de Louvain (Louvain School of Management) in Business Administration and European Affairs.
He began his career in finance with Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, serving as Head of European Investor Services in Paris and London, Head of Operations Services in New York, and General Manager of the Brussels branch. In 1991 he became Chief Operating Officer of Banque internationale à Luxembourg. In 1992, Tilmant joined the Executive Committee of Bank Brussels Lambert (BBL).
He became Chief Executive Officer in 1997, one year before International Netherlands Group acquired BBL. That year, he became Chairman of International Netherlands Group Barings and in his appointment as Vice-Chairman of the International Netherlands Group Group and Chief Executive Officer of International Netherlands Group Europe followed in 2000.
In April 2004, he succeeded Ewald Kist as Chief Executive Officer of the International Netherlands Group Group. Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos wanted to dismiss International Netherlands Group Chief Executive Officer Michel Tilmant in October 2008, when the government International Netherlands Group capital injection of 10 billion euros was granted.
Finance Minister Bos temporarily abandoned the idea since no replacement was available. In January 2009 Tilmant was replaced by January Hommen, chairman of the non-executive board.
A little over a year before on November 8, 2007 the same Tilmant had threatened in (the Dutch Financial Times (FD)) to have International Netherlands Group headquarters moved to Brussels to enable him to pay himself and his staff higher salaries and bonuses.
He was critical on the moderate economic climate in the Netherlands. He was particularly annoyed with the quality of education and the debate on excessive pay in the Netherlands. On January 26, 2009, International Netherlands Group announced that he would give up the Chief Executive Officer position because of the "special developments of the previous months and his personal condition".
On January 25, 2010, one year after his sudden resignation, Tilmant refused to be questioned by the "Commissie de Wit" the Dutch Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission on the occurrences that led to the technical bankruptcy of International Netherlands Group under his jurisdiction.
Former Non Executive Board Member and former Labor Prime Minister of the Netherlands Wim Kok was severely criticized for his explanation on his ratification of the extravagant salary increase (584%) granted to Tilmant and his board in 2004 to stay in line with salaries paid in the Banking industry. After leaving International Netherlands Group, Tilmant joined the board of the Luxembourg based Foyer Group as an executive director