Dexia board rep says quit to avoid interest conflict

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, July 4 (Reuters) - Denis Kessler, chief executive of French reinsurer Scor (SCOR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), said on Saturday he had resigned from the supervisory board of Dexia financial group (DEXI.BR: Quote, Profile, Research) to avoid any conflict of interest with Fortis (FOR.BR: Quote, Profile, Research).

"I am a supervisory board member at BNP Paribas and Dexia. Fortis is a direct competitor of Dexia on the Belgian market. Since I do not like conflicts of interest, I have said that if the Fortis deal went through, I would have to make a choice," Kessler told reporters on the sidelines of an economic forum.

BNP Paribas finalised in May the acquisition of Fortis Bank from the Belgian state. [ID:nBRQ007328]

Dexia announced on Wednesday that Kessler and three other board members -- Andre Levy-Lang, Bernard Lux and Jan Renders -- would be replaced by Stefaan Decraene, Christian Giacomotto, Robert de Metz and Bernard Thiry. [ID:nL1883738]

(Reporting by Matthieu Protard, Writing by Marie Maitre)