Knot spoke after interim Finance Minister Eelco Heinen said future DNB chiefs will have five-year, not seven-year, terms. Newish DNB president Olaf Sleijpen, who took office in September of last year, will get a full seven years, starting July 1, but Heinen had contended that lengthy appointments might contribute to "tunnel vision" and excessive dominance by leaders of the institution.

Knot: Longer terms necessary for global legitimacy and independence.


Knot also insisted that long terms should not become too long because you need a long time to establish credibility in international financial forums. "I just started as chair of the FSB last December — more than ten years after I entered DNB," he said. "If I could only stay two terms of five years, I never would've made it.

Such jobs are important for safeguarding Dutch financial stability, he said, because risks frequently come from elsewhere.

He recognized challenges that long tenures bring, among them a management team largely handpicked by a single leader, but said that he has fostered internal pushback and transparency during his presidency. He cited an independent review of DNB's economic advisory role, and renovations to the bank's Amsterdam headquarters that was designed to open parts of the building to the public, as proof that the the bank valued openness.



Shorter term duration could expose it to p.