ING Investment Management International, part of Dutch-headquartered ING Group, has appointed Stan Beckers as its new chief executive,  a hire approved by the Dutch Central Bank and effective from 1 July.

Beckers, who will report to Lard Friese, member of the management board insurance for Europe and Asia, succeeds Gilbert Van Hassel, who has decided to leave the firm after six years. Van Hassel joined ING in 2007 as CEO of ING Investment Management Europe. 

Beckers, with more than 30 years’ global finance and asset management experience, began his career in 1979 as a professor of finance at KU Leuven, Belgium. In 1982, Beckers was one of the original partners in Barra, where he established and managed the firm's international operations. From 2000, he was chief investment officer at WestLB Asset Management and at Kedge Capital. In 2004, Beckers joined Barclays Global Investors, which was later acquired by BlackRock. He served as CEO and CIO of BGI’s Alpha Management Group, and he was also CIO of BGI´s European Active Equity Group. Most recently, Beckers served as managing director and co-head of BlackRock Solutions EMEA.

ING IM International managed in aggregate approximately €184 billion (around $240 billion) in assets for institutions and individual investors worldwide, as at 31 March 2013.