ING Expands German Direct Banking And Pension Activities

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

02 November 2001

The ING Group has announced that it is set to expand its interest in DiBa (Allgemeine Deutsche Direktbank) with a recent acquisition of a 21 per cent share from BGAG (an investment company of German trade unions) giving ING a majority interest of 70 per cent in the oldest direct bank in Germany.

According to a statement from ING, the Group's strategy is to enter mature retail markets world-wide with the ING Direct concept. DiBa is market leader in the fast-growing sector of direct banking services in Germany with 600,000 clients and EUR 3.6 billion funds entrusted and the activities of DiBa are in line with the direct distribution and e-business strategy of ING Group.

'By acquiring a majority interest in DiBa, we will be able to realise our goal to further strengthen our activities in the field of direct banking services in Germany. I am therefore very pleased with this important next step in the roll-out of our ING Direct strategy in Europe. By combining the expertise of DiBa and ING Direct, we see excellent opportunities to further expand the strong position of DiBa. Over time we will consider moving to the international ING Direct brand in Germany as well', said Ewald Kist, chairman of the Executive Board of ING Group.

ING Direct was launched in Canada four years ago and currently also has operations in Spain, Australia, France, the United States and Italy, offering transparent banking, insurance and investment products via telephone, direct mail and the internet. In the first nine months of 2001, ING Direct says it has doubled its number of customers to 1.5 million with total funds entrusted now exceeding EUR 15 billion (excluding DiBa).

In addition BHF-Bank (part of ING Group), BHW (German financial services company) and BGAG have made public their plans to establish a joint venture in order to secure a market share in the newly defined field of pension products relating to individual and group pension schemes in Germany.

Mr Kist commented: 'The combination of BHF-Bank, BHW and BGAG will create a powerful force in the newly defined German pension market. Each party brings its own unique skills which together will enable the intended joint venture to quickly establish itself as a trusted asset manager of individual and group pensions. For ING this is a perfect opportunity to use our international experience in pensions and employee benefits to the benefit of our existing and new German customers.'

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