One year after Fortis shareholders lost the bulk of their investment, a near-apology from the Belgian financial group’s former chairman received mixed reactions in Brussels on Monday.

Maurice Lippens broke a year’s silence at the weekend, finally shedding light on his role in the collapse of Belgium’s leading banking and insurance group, a financial conglomerate that he helped build over a three-decade career into a European operator once worth nearly €70bn ($103bn).