The European Public Real Estate Association has appointed Philip Charls as its new chief executive from 1 October.

Charls, 58, is currently general manager of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce for Belgium and Luxembourg.

He was previously the chief executive of RVS-Insurance Belgium, part of the ING Group, for seven years.

Charls succeeds Nick van Ommen, who has led the association as chief executive since May 2000.

EPRA was established to improve standards of reporting disclosure, ethics, and industry practices, among European listed real estate companies and to lobby on the industry’s behalf with governmental and regulatory bodies.