Bank Merchant Services

Fortis will restructure its top management as of 1 January 2008.[1] The Executive Committee will be recomposed and responsibilities redistributed. A Business Executive Committee - which will replace the Fortis Management Committee - will be installed and will operate in closest collaboration with a Group Executive Committee. Taking into account the Fortis managers who have already taken up responsibilities within ABN AMRO, Fortis is convinced it now has the adequate management structure in place, not only to guarantee the successful integration of the acquired businesses, but also to develop Fortis as a whole.

1. The Group Executive Committee will consist of:

* Jean-Paul Votron, CEO and Executive Director (Audit reports directly to the CEO);

* Herman Verwilst, Deputy CEO and Executive Director (Human Resources, Public and External Affairs, Business Transformation Office report to the Deputy CEO);

* Gilbert Mittler, Member of the Group Executive Committee responsible for Finance, Risk and General Counsel;

* Filip Dierckx, Member of the Group Executive Committee responsible for Merchant Banking;

* Lex Kloosterman, Member of the Group Executive Committee responsible for Private Banking, Asset Management, Investor Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility;

* Camille Fohl, Member of the Group Executive Committee responsible for Retail Banking and for Global Branding and Communications;

* Peer van Harten, Member of the Group Executive Committee responsible for Insurance and for Real Estate;

* Alain Deschênes, Member of the Group Executive Committee responsible for Technology and Information Services, Operations, Facility, Purchasing and Process Improvement.

Affinion Group, Debix to Deliver Next Generation of ID Theft ...

NORWALK, Conn., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Affinion Group, a leading global affinity marketer and preeminent identity theft protection provider, announced today that it has partnered with Debix Inc., the Identity Protection Network, to offer a sophisticated new tool that stops identity thieves from opening fraudulent credit accounts. This cutting-edge new technology, called Debix Instant Authorization(TM), will be offered as part of Affinion's robust and growing portfolio of identity theft services beginning in the first quarter of 2008.

Debix Instant Authorization(TM) technology stops identity thieves from taking out loans and credit cards using stolen personal information. Before any new credit accounts can be opened, any bank can send the consumer a secure automated phone call prompting the consumer to authorize or reject the transaction.

In the world of online community, one authoritative man can dictate ...

She has balls!: Thank God someone finally had the balls to write about the CCA ["Burnt Chefs," June 6]. I nearly fell off the curb when I saw Eliza Strickland's article on the cover of the newspaper. I graduated from the California Culinary Academy in 1992 when it was still considered a respectable, although suspect, rival of the Culinary Institute of America in New York. I was in the first class that actually received an accredited AOS degree, so that gave us extra credibility. Not that it mattered. I went on to work in the kitchens of Venticello, Bistro Don Giovanni, and Il Fornaio. I lasted in the food industry for five years before I left, in debt, and ultimately ended up filing bankruptcy a few years later. The most I ever made in one year was $20,000, and that was because I was the assistant manager of a cafe.