The bank announced its new Asian management team of eight senior executives under the leadership of Barend Janssens as head of Fortis Private Banking Asia.

The bank also said its business integration in Singapore, Hong Kong and China was expected to be completed by January, Taiwan by the end of the first quarter, and the United Arab Emirates by the end of the first half.

Part of the transition involves merging the cultures of two large organisations. When the merger is completed, the combined private bank will be the fourth-largest in Europe, with US$340 billion in assets under administration, offices in 19 countries and about 5,000 employees. The bank will employ 860 staff in Asia in five countries, managing US$30 billion in assets under administration.

Mr Torrez said that culture was not a human resources-driven soft issue but a hard financial issue. He has, since May, been working to make the merger as successful as possible.

He said that in dealing with differences that might exist between two companies undergoing a merger, the firms should not put stress on them but become aware of them to avoid misunderstandings that could get in the way of building a common future. 'We're confident about our future because we see more commonalities in our people, their values and intentions. It is these commonalities that we will build on.'

The process of integrating cultures during the merger involves a careful socialisation process. This means bringing people together to have structured conversations and build their future step by step.

In particular, conversations focus on the different assumptions that people from both banks have about how to get work done, how to behave and how they are involved. They also focus on connecting people, explaining how each side thinks and operates, and discussing how they deliver value to customers.

Building a culture essentially involved telling one story at a time, Mr Torrez said. 'We build a common bond by learning about a person or department - about what they've done in the past, what they are proud of, how and why they've been successful, and how and why they've failed. This awareness will build a strong foundation of trust, the cornerstone of any successful organisation.'

The goal is also to create the right conditions for success in every team, from the ground up. So people from both sides form teams. However, building trust and establishing the rules of engagement that define high performance are essential from the start. Integrating two different cultures is a big task and doing it right involves many people and key decisions.

While some organisations take a militaristic approach to this, with all decisions driven from the top down, the combined bank has chosen, wherever possible, to involve people at all levels.

Private banks are built on connections, trust and emotional engagement, internally and externally, so the culture integration team is giving people a voice and a view in building the bank's future.

'This is a big job in that it involves focusing on helping the new leadership team perform well, but it is also going into a network of 5,000 people across a combined private bank. Our aim is to involve people at all levels in building the future of this private bank,' Mr Torrez said.

Every aspect of the integration is important, from creating the new organisational structure to harmonising technical systems. The combined private bank's culture is also seen as the glue that holds everything together. It is being highly proactive in involving people in a new culture that matches its new identity.

'If you promote a way of thinking, a way of working, and a way of leading that's in line with strategy, the company has a much better chance of success,' he said.

One challenge is to put out the message that culture is a business and financial issue and one which, if not tackled, can lead to disconnection in terms of how the organisation is doing and how it is aligned with strategy.

If an organisation is proactive about company culture and develops this in line with its strategy, ambition and aspirations, this translates into a lot of good for itself and its customers.

When a cultural integration process is being enacted, various considerations have to be taken into account. One is the creation of awareness across the organisation, starting at the top with its newly appointed leaders. This creates a sense of where the organisation is going, how it is getting there and the roles that individuals and teams have in contributing to the achievement of this strategy.

Awareness also has to be created about values and ways of behaving, in the private bank and across the Fortis group.

Other aspects range from involvement and connection to performance and skill because this ensure that people at all levels can perform at the level expected by the bank's clients.

Staff should also operate in a way that is consistent with the new business model and the process associated with it. Putting these goals into practice takes coaching and a clear individual focus and, especially in the early days, emphasis on teams.

Teams, for example, need to have the capabilities to support individuals in the team and to lead the teams below them. The time frame for this carefully considered process is not set in stone.

'There's a formal part from a project perspective and an informal part from a nurturing perspective,' Mr Torrez said.

'The formal part could take a year to 1? years, by which time the nurturing part will have already kicked in [in the shape of] monitoring, development, how teams are behaving and how value is being created for our customers.

'Our leaders must be strong coaches during this time. It is impossible for them to communicate too much. Our people must have constant clarity and confidence regarding the ambition of the private bank and the strategy - globally and locally - to achieve it,' he said.

Mr Torrez's said three measures had to be met for the combined bank to know when its two cultures had successfully merged.

First is employee and customer engagement, where engagement means motivation and the desire to be part of the organisation's future.

Financial targets are another measure of success, followed by marketplace credibility, whereby the combined bank pleases analysts and attracts top talent from the marketplace.