* 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 Investor
enquiries
Anneloes Geldermans Ewald
Walraven
ING Group ING
Group
+31 20 541 6526 +31 20
541 5463
anneloes.geldermans@ing.com
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.
This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is
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