DNB Bank, Norway's largest financial group, announced on 24 October 2025 that Rasmus Figenschou would assume the role of Chief Financial Officer, stepping into a position left vacant by the departure of Ida Lerner. Lerner had left DNB to take up the CFO role at ING Group, one of Europe's largest and most internationally active banking institutions, in a senior executive move that drew attention across the Nordic and European banking communities.
Figenschou joins the group management team from within the organisation, having served as DNB's Group Executive Vice President of Corporate Banking Norway, a role that placed him at the centre of the bank's most significant commercial banking relationships in its home market. His internal promotion reflects DNB's preference for succession from within when filling senior leadership positions, a practice designed to ensure continuity and to reward long-standing institutional expertise rather than importing unfamiliar perspectives at moments of leadership transition.
FIGENSCHOU'S CORPORATE BANKING BACKGROUND
In his previous role, Figenschou was responsible for DNB's corporate banking franchise in Norway, overseeing lending, advisory services, and financial solutions to the country's large and mid-cap businesses across the sectors that define the Norwegian economy: energy, shipping, real estate, fisheries, and financial institutions. That commercially grounded background gives him a deep understanding of how the bank generates risk-adjusted returns across its core business lines, a perspective that is directly relevant to the capital allocation, financial planning, and investor relations demands of the group CFO position.
Corporate banking at DNB is particularly important given the bank's position as a global leader in maritime finance, a specialised lending market in which it competes with a small number of international banks for mandates from shipowners and shipping companies around the world. Figenschou's familiarity with the economics and risk dynamics of that business will be a valuable asset as he takes responsibility for overseeing the financial performance of the group as a whole, including the international segments that are central to DNB's earnings mix.
Figenschou's appointment was confirmed alongside a broader announcement of changes to DNB's group management team, in a press release published via the Oslo Stock Exchange notification system. The bank said he would assume the CFO duties with immediate effect and that transition arrangements were in place to ensure continuity across all of the finance function's responsibilities during the period of leadership change.
LERNER'S DEPARTURE AND DNB'S LEADERSHIP STABILITY
Ida Lerner's move to ING Group is a prominent example of Nordic banking talent being sought by larger pan-European institutions, a pattern that has become more visible as the European banking sector contends with both consolidation pressures and a competitive market for experienced senior finance executives. For DNB, the departure of a sitting CFO to a rival of ING's scale represented a transition that needed careful management to avoid any disruption to the bank's investor relations calendar, capital planning processes, or regulatory reporting obligations.
By appointing from within rather than conducting an extended external search, DNB's board has sought to minimise the risk of a leadership vacuum in the finance function during the transition period. Figenschou's familiarity with the bank's balance sheet structure, its regulatory capital position, and its key investor relationships means he can assume the substantive responsibilities of the role without the learning curve that an external candidate would face in the early months of the appointment.
Figenschou's immediate priorities as CFO will include managing DNB's capital position against the backdrop of evolving Norwegian and European prudential regulatory requirements, maintaining the confidence of the institutional investors who follow the bank's shares, and supporting the group's long-term financial planning as it continues to develop its domestic retail, corporate banking, and asset management businesses. His appointment is effective immediately, giving him direct responsibility for the bank's upcoming financial communications.