Higher productivity

We will increase our productivity through projects in three areas: implementation of our Strategy 2025, regulatory and operations, and foundation for the future (new propositions, segments for future growth and digital transformation, including our IT security).

Our 2019 plans aim for an operating income of €370 million and we have set aside additional budget for staff and projects to accommodate our ambitions.

One of the key operational challenges in 2019 will be to recruit and effectively onboard skilled staff. Our HR Department has capacity and capabilities in place to make this happen. Another challenge will be to execute our ambitious project portfolio. To enable successful project delivery, we will implement an enhanced project management and governance framework.

The various Brexit scenarios have been on our radar in 2018 and will continue to be in 2019 as the Brexit date approaches. An internal working group has assessed that the expected impact of a hard Brexit on the financial results of FMO is not significant. Certain products, transactions and processes need to be adjusted to become Brexit-proof, but these are expected to be implemented in time or relatively unimportant to the core processes such that they can be sorted post Brexit.