AkzoNobel has hired a new chief financial officer to replace Maëlys Castella who stepped down from the role earlier this month for health reasons.

Maarten de Vries, most recently CFO of Dutch financial services group Intertrust, will take up his position with AkzoNobel on Jan. 1. His appointment is subject to shareholder approval and, as such, will be part of the agenda for the extraordinary general meeting (egm) to be scheduled later this year.

Once de Vries has taken up his post, interim CFO Hans de Vriese will become AkzoNobel’s director of planning and transformation as the Dutch group splits into two separate businesses: paints and coatings; and specialty chemicals.