Conclusions and ambitions
Retail Banking performed well in 2007, especially in its key product areas of mortgages and savings. It undertook important initiatives to enhance efficiency and to drive growth. The new Dutch and Belgian strategies are focused on increasing efficiency and reducing costs to secure long term profit growth and executing these strategies will be an important focus for 2008.
ING decided to transfer mid-corporate clients in its home markets from Wholesale Banking to Retail Banking with effect from 1 January 2008. The transfer will allow ING’s domestic banking organisations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Romania to operate under a single management and a single brand.
ING expanded in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia, gaining momentum in Poland and Romania and starting preparations to open a new operation in Ukraine. The acquisition of Oyak Bank in Turkey gives ING a strong platform in this important market. The 30%-stake in TMB in Thailand enables ING to extend its footprint in the fast growing Asian market, including in Private Banking. With respect to Private Banking, ING performed well, in particular in Asia.
The ambition is to increase the contribution of the growth markets to overall retail banking profit in the next three years. ING will continue to screen opportunities for greenfields or acquisitions.