ING Group

ING Group (NYSE:ING) said that it has reached an agreement to sell its life insurance and wealth management venture in Australia and New Zealand to ANZ Banking Group, its joint venture partner.

ING Group (AMS:INGB) ING announced today that it intends to concentrate the trading of its (depositary receipts for) shares on the stock exchanges in Amsterdam, Brussels and New York. Accordingly, ING has filed applications to voluntary delist from the Frankfurt, Paris and Swiss stock exchanges.

ING Group (AMS:INGB) * Underlying net loss of EUR 585 million driven by crisis in the financial markets

ING Group (AMS:INGB) John Hele, Chief Financial Officer, will leave ING as of 31 March 2009. He has decided to relocate to the United States for family reasons and pursue his career outside ING. John Hele will remain as member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of ING Group until the end of March 2009 in order to complete the annual accounts and filings for the financial year 2008. Starting 1 April 2009 John Hele will join Arch Capital Group Ltd as Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. Arch Capital Group Ltd writes property & casualty insurance and reinsurance on a worldwide basis and is listed on the Nasdaq in New York. John Hele joined ING Group in 2003 as Chief Insurance Risk Officer and was appointed as member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer per 24 April 2007. Michel Tilmant, Chairman of the Executive Board of ING Group, said: "Although I regret that John Hele will be leaving ING in 2009, I respect his decision to pursue his career ...

ING Group (AMS:INGB) ING announced today that Lodewijk de Waal and Peter Elverding have been nominated by the Dutch government for the Supervisory Board of ING Group.

ING Group (AMS:INGB) ING announced today that it has reached an agreement with Fubon Financial Holding Co. Ltd. ("Fubon Financial Holding"), a leading diversified Taiwanese financial services company, to sell its Taiwanese life insurance business for a consideration equivalent to USD 600 million (EUR 447 million). The divestment is in line with ING's strategy to actively manage its portfolio of businesses, allocating capital to those businesses that generate the highest return.

ING Group (AMS:INGB) * ING to issue EUR 10 billion of core Tier-1 securities to Dutch State * Transaction boosts Bank core Tier-1 ratio to 8%, strengthens Insurance balance sheet and reduces Group Debt/Equity ratio to 10% * Core capital issue is non-dilutive to outstanding share capital * ING to pass over final dividend for 2008

ING Group (AMS:INGB) Based on preliminary third-quarter figures: * Tier-1 ratio of ING Bank above target at 8.5% and core tier-1 of 6.5% at 30 September * Debt/equity ratio ING Group at 15%, in line with internal limits * AFR/EC ING Group at 113% despite decline at Insurance due to widening credit spreads * 3Q results impacted by market turmoil, with impairments and negative fair-value changes leading to a net loss of approximately EUR 500 million in the quarter

ING Group (AMS:INGB) ING DIRECT N.V. announced today that it has obtained an additional 208,294 shares in Germany's largest independent residential mortgage distributor, Interhyp AG, at EUR 64 per share, valuing the company at EUR 416 million. ING DIRECT's stake in Interhyp will increase from 91.21% as of 18 August 2008 to 96.95% as of today.

ING Group (AMS:INGB) In these extreme market circumstances, ING welcomes the announcement of the Dutch government as these are important and necessary steps to restore confidence and bring stability and certainty to the Dutch financial system.