Mercantile Mutual

ING Australia was originally founded in 1878 as Mercantile Mutual by three prominent business men who met during a cricket match. They founded a fire insurance company in Sydney. The company was very innovative and gradually expanded its product range with cover for accidents, sickness, employers’ liability and motor vehicle insurance. It also played a prominent role in insurance services related to the many natural disasters of Australia. In 1960, Mercantile Mutual acquired the Australian Metropolitan Life Insurance Company which enabled to company to expand. In 1981, Nationale-Nederlanden bought a 50% stake in Mercantile Mutual and expanded this to 100% in 1987. In 1991, it followed Nationale-Nederlanden into ING Group. A few years later, in 1994, it started providing banking services under the name ING Mercantile Mutual Bank, offering products to local, private clients through the independent agents that sell the products of Mercantile Mutual. The company was also linked up with the ING Bank international branch network. In 2001, Mercantile Mutual was rebranded ING Australia.

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