ING Presents New Belgium Structure; Exclusive Focus on Bancasssurance

The Netherlands’ ING Group has announced a major change in strategy and a restructuring of its Belgian insurance business. ING intends to focus exclusively on its on bancassurance distribution in Belgium.

ING said that after a strategic review of its insurance business in Belgium, the Group “has decided to concentrate its life and non-life insurance activities in two new entities, which will exclusively distribute through the retail banking channels of ING in Belgium.” The new entities will have around 350 employees.

As a result of the strategy change ING said it “intends to divest its non-strategic insurance activities and currently seeks to identify parties interested in acquiring its broker and employee benefits insurance business in Belgium.”

ING said the Belgian subsidiaries “had a total premium income of €1.797 billion [$2.33 billion] in 2005 of which €607 million [$787.76 million] was generated through its broker and employee benefits insurance business. The brokers and employee benefits business currently employs about 840 employees.”