ING to separate banking and insurance activities

by Richard Kilner

Story link: ING to separate banking and insurance activities

ING has announced that it is to utterly separate its banking and insurance operations as part of its Back to Basics programme.

The shift will be phased in over a four year period, with the insurance operations being divested, and the bank looking at a range of options such as initial public offerings and sales.

Chief Executive Officer Jan Hommen explained that the financial crisis led to government support for the bank to enhance its capital position and assist its exposure to risk.

Since then the bank has worked with the Dutch Government and the European Commission to formulate a forward-thinking strategic plan to repay the former and satisfy the conditions of fairness and viability required by the latter.

Hommen added that the decision to split the company was not arrived at lightly, but argued that transparency, simplicity and reliability meant that it was the right course of action.

ING also revealed today that its preliminary, unaudited results indicated an underlying net profit of €750m for Q3, an improvement on the second quarter.