Fortis may sell additional activities - paper

AMSTERDAM, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis (FOR.BR) (FOR.AS) may sell additional businesses as part of an 8 billion euro ($11.6 billion) plan to shore up its finances, its chief executive was quoted on Saturday as saying.

Chief Executive Herman Verwilst told Dutch daily De Telegraaf the plan to shore up the bank's finances consisted of several components and the bank had flexibility.

"If one initiative goes less smoothly, we could do more of the other, for example by maybe selling additional activities," he said.

Fortis said in June it had reviewed its portfolio of activities and identified a number of non-core assets which could be divested, resulting in a total solvency uplift of around 2 billion euros.

"The difference between core and non-core activities is not scientific," Verwilst told the paper.

He said a sale of the consumer business of ABN AMRO that Fortis acquired last year would not make sense, however: "The takeover was done to strengthen our activities in the Dutch market. That was one of the key reasons. Selling it again would be difficult to explain, to say the least."

Fortis was not immediately available to confirm the comments.

(Reporting by Niclas Mika; editing by Christopher Johnson)