09.ING Bank NV , Amsterdam , Netherlands

ING Bank NV , Amsterdam , Netherlands

ING Groep N.V. (NYSE: ING, Euronext: INGA) (known as ING Group) is a financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management services. ING stands for Internationale Nederlanden Groep.

As of 2007[update], ING Group covers 85 million private, corporate and institutional clients in 50 countries with a workforce of over 130,000 people. It has offices in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand, UK and United States. It owns ING Direct, a virtual bank with operations in Australia, Canada, Italy, Spain, UK, USA and elsewhere. In the 2008 Forbes Global 2000, ING was the ninth-largest company in the world.

History
Part of ING at night in Minneapolis in the United States

* 1990: The newly formed company was created from the 1990 merger of
Nationale-Nederlanden and NMB Postbank Group.
* 1991: Nationale-Nederlanden changes to ING Nationale-Nederlanden
* 1994: ING opened first ING Bank in Romania
* 1995: ING acquired investment bank and investment management firm Barings
* 1997: ING acquired insurer Equitable of Iowa Companies
* 1997: ING opened ING Direct Canada www.ingdirect.ca
* 1998: ING acquired Banque Bruxelles Lambert (BBL) of Belgium
* 1999: ING acquired BHF-Bank of Germany

* 2000: ING acquired US insurers ReliaStar, Aetna Financial Services and Aetna international

* 2000: ING opened ING Direct USA
* 2001: ING acquired Bank Śląski of Poland, and insurer Seguros Comercial America of Mexico
* 2002: ING acquired DiBa bank of Germany
* 2004: ING Insurance Company of Canada acquired Allianz Canada
* 2004: ING sold BHF-Bank of Germany to Sal. Oppenheim

* 2006: ING opened ING Life Bulgaria, a branch of ING Life Hungary
ING began sponsoring the Renault Formula One team in 2007, and also has a large amount of trackside advertising and race sponsorship deals.

* 2007: ING acquired Oyak bank of Turkey
* 2007: ING launched its first variable annuities product for the European market in Spain
* 2007: ING acquired US web-based stock brokerage firm ShareBuilder
* 2007: ING acquired Landmark Asset Management Company of South Korea
* 2007: ING acquired TMB bank of Thailand
* 2008: ING sold ING Seguros in Mexico
* 2008: ING acquired CitiStreet in USA
* 2008: ING launched retail banking in Ukraine
* 2008: ING acquired the voluntary pension fund Oyak Emeklilik in Turkey
* 2008: ING Group, in a move to increase its Tier-One capital ratio, accepts a €10 billion capital injection from the Dutch government.

Investigations into investment and business practices

Over the past several years, the ING Group has come under scrutiny over the ethics of some of their business practices. In October 2005, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), the leading private-sector provider of financial regulatory services in the United States, ordered ING Funds Distributor (IFD) to pay fines of $1.5 million for permitting improper market timing in ING funds and related violations, $1.4 million in restitution to affected mutual funds, and a $25,000 fine and 30-day supervisory suspension on an IFD supervisor.

2008 Capital Injection

On Sunday October 19, 2008, in a move to increase its core Tier 1 capital ratio to 8%, ING Group accepted a capital injection plan by the Dutch Government. The plan will supply €10 billion (US$13.5 billion) into the operation, in exchange for securities, and veto rights on major operations and investments. Wouter Bos, the Dutch finance minister, said that this was done as a means of fortifying the bank as the bank is in a sound financial state, to weather the financial crisis. Management said that the capital injection shall have no dilutive impact to existing shareholders. Because of the temporary basis of the loan, two advisers have been appointed. A portion of the €10 billion was allocated to ING Direct, who took over responsibility for £2.5 billion of deposits of 160,000 UK customers with the Icelandic bank Kaupthing Edge, which failed on October 9, 2008.