ING Group

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ING House, ING headquarters in Amsterdam

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

As of 2003, ING covers 60 million private, corporate and institutional clients in 50 countries with a workforce of over 115,000 people. It has offices in Canada, Peru, Chile, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, the United States, Germany, UK, Belgium, Austria and Australia. It owns ING Direct, a virtual bank with operations in Australia, Canada, the USA, UK, Spain and elsewhere. In the 2006 Forbes Global 2000, ING was the eleventh-largest company in the world.

ING's headquarters in Amsterdam is somewhat renowned as an autonomous building.

1 Advertising and sponsorship
2 History
3 Questionable Investment and Business Practices
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

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Advertising and sponsorship

ING's Canadian commercials feature Dutch actor Frederik de Groot. In Australia, they feature Scottish comedian Billy Connolly.

From 2007, ING will become title sponsor of the Renault Formula One team. This will continue until at least 2009. In November 2006 ING was announced as the naming rights sponsor of the Australian Grand Prix in a three-year deal; The "ING Australian Grand Prix" will be the first of the 2007 season.

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History

The company was created from the 1991 merger of Nationale-Nederlanden and NMB Postbank Groep.

1995: ING acquired investment bank and asset management firm Barings.
1997: ING acquired insurer Equitable of Iowa Companies.
1997: ING opened ING Direct Canada.
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 Commercial 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
2005: ING acquired AFP Integra in Peru
2006: ING opened ING Life Bulgaria, a branch of ING Life Hungary.

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Questionable Investment and Business Practices

Over the past several years, the ING Group has come under considerable scrutiny for a series of unethical business practices. In October of 2005, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), the leading private-sector provider of financial regulatory services, 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 $25,000 fine and 30-day supervisory suspension on an IFD supervisor <ref>US PR Newswire, “NASD Orders ING Funds Distributor to Pay $1.5 Million Fine, $1.4 Million in Restitution for Permitting Improper Market Timing; NASD Also Sanctions ING Funds Distributor Supervisor,” October 3, 2005</ref>.

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