Brussels - Belgium's former Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene is to head the board of the struggling Franco-Belgian financial service group Dexia, Belgium's Prime Minister Yves Leterme announced Tuesday after an overnight crisis meeting in Brussels.

French banker and BNP Paribas executive Pierre Mariani is to serve as as chief executive. Mariani is currently a senior executive vice president at France's largest bank, BNP Paribas, France's largest bank.

Dexia chief executive officer, Axel Miller of Belgium, and Pierre Richard, a Frenchman who chaired its board of directors, resigned last week after the group became the latest victim of the global credit crunch and was bailed out by three European governments. (dpa)