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ING scraps shopping plans for now

Dutch fin-ancial services group ING has no plans to buy a US investment bank and will hold on to its capital buffer as it weathers the acute crisis among financial firms, its chief financial officer said on Friday.

  • Reuters
  • Published: 23:42 September 19, 2008
  • Gulf News

Madrid: Dutch fin-ancial services group ING has no plans to buy a US investment bank and will hold on to its capital buffer as it weathers the acute crisis among financial firms, its chief financial officer said on Friday.

"Right now, today, it makes sense to have a buffer," ING CFO John Hele said at the financial group's analysts' day in Madrid.

Asked whether ING would be interested in buying any distressed assets, particularly a US investment bank, Hele said: "There could be some assets that come up. We're not looking to buy a big investment bank in the US."

Lehman Brothers collapsed and Merrill Lynch was bought by Bank of America, last week, while Morgan Stanley continued talking to Wachovia Corp and other banks about a merger. Morgan Stanley was also in talks to sell a larger equity stake to China's sovereign wealth fund, people familiar with its plans said on Thursday.

Hele reiterated ING's often-stated line that it is interested chiefly in smaller bolt-on acquisitions.

ING, which has 3.9 billion euros (Dh20.65 billion) of spare leverage, told analysts it does not have to tap capital markets to weather the turbulent markets.

'Strong foundation'

"The fact that we are able to ride through this is because of the fact that we have a strong foundation," Hele said.

Hele declined to comment on whether ING had any exposure to American Insurance Group. The US government this week agreed to rescue AIG with an emergency $85 billion loan from Federal Reserve.

ING said conventional less-leveraged banking - taking in retail savings deposits and offering loans and other products to corporate and retail customers - will help it weather the storm.

At its analysts' day, ING set a new goal of doubling loans, mortgages and funds held by retail customers at its ING Direct Internet and phone banking service, in five years.

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