ING Group announced yesterday that John Hele, its chief financial officer, will leave the company effective from 31 March, 2009, for ‘family reasons’ and to pursue a career outside ING.

The announcement came the same week as credit-market losses drove shares of the ING Group, the Netherlands’ biggest financial-services company, to a 13-year low, prompting the Dutch government to give it a lifeline by buying non-voting preferred shares for €10bn (₤8bn).

While the Government appoints two representatives to the ING board, Hele will remain a board member and CFO until the end of March 2009 when he has completed the annual accounts and filings for the 2007-08 financial year.

Starting 1 April, 2009, Hele will join Arch Capital Group Ltd as executive vice-president and CFO. Arch Capital Group writes property and casualty insurance and reinsurance on a worldwide basis and is listed on the Nasdaq in New York.