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Amsterdam, 7 October 2009
- Proceeds on transaction of EUR 344 million
- Making good progress in executing Back to Basics
Programme
ING announced today that it has reached an
agreement to sell its Swiss Private Banking business to Julius Baer
for a consideration of CHF 520 million (EUR 344 million) in cash.
Julius Baer is the leading pure-play Swiss Private Banking
group.
Jan Hommen, CEO of ING Group: “The divestment of our Private
Banking activities in Switzerland illustrates once more that we are
making good progress in executing our Back to Basics programme. We
are pleased to have found such a sophisticated and professional
player as Julius Baer as the new owner of our Swiss Private Banking
business. This sale and the recently announced divestment of our
life insurance and wealth management joint venture in Australia and
New Zealand show ING’s commitment to focus on fewer franchises and
the reduction of the complexity of the group.”
The transaction will generate an estimated net profit for ING of
EUR 150 million and is expected to free up EUR 200 million of
capital. The agreement of ING and Julius Baer is subject to
regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first quarter
of 2010.
As part of the announced Back to Basics programme, ING is currently
also in discussions about the future of the Private Banking
activities in Asia. Any further announcements on this matter will
only be made when appropriate. ING Private Banking in the Benelux
and Central Eastern Europe remain integral parts of ING.
ING’s Swiss Private Banking has around EUR 10 billion assets under
management. Excluding Switzerland, ING Private Banking serves world
wide more than 65.000 clients with a staff of around 1500 employees
and has over EUR 48 billion assets under management.
Press enquiries
Anneloes Geldermans
ING Group
+31 20 541 6526
anneloes.geldermans@ing.com
Investor enquiries
Ewald Walraven
ING Group
+31 20 541 5463
ewald.walraven@ing.com
ING Profile
ING is a global financial institution of
Dutch origin offering banking, investments, life insurance and
retirement services to over 85 million private, corporate and
institutional clients in more than 40 countries. With a diverse
workforce of about 110,000 people, ING is dedicated to setting the
standard in helping our clients manage their financial
future.
Important legal information
Certain of the statements contained herein
are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking
statements. These expectations are based on management's current
views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ
materially from those in such statements due to, among other
things, (i) general economic conditions, in particular economic
conditions in ING's core markets, (ii) performance of financial
markets, including emerging markets, (iii) the frequency and
severity of insured loss events, (iv) mortality and morbidity
levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) interest rate
levels, (vii) currency exchange rates (viii) general competitive
factors, (ix) changes in laws and regulations, (x) changes in the
policies of governments and/or regulatory authorities, (XI)
conclusions with regard to purchase accounting assumptions and
methodologies, (XII) ING's ability to achieve projected operational
synergies. ING assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking
information contained in this document.
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