ING Group is gauging the implications of the US bank rescue aid plan announced earlier this month for its activities there, the Dutch banking and insurance group's next Chief Executive said in a newspaper interview on Saturday. Shares in ING, which has already received Dutch government aid, fell to a more than 16-year low on Friday on concern it might miss debt interest payments with traders citing talk that the group could be nationalised.
"ING has major activities in America," Jan Hommen, who will take over the group in April, told the Financieele Dagblad newspaper. "On that basis, I would like to inquire about the current US aid programmes." It was not yet clear whether US Treasury's programme would be eligible for foreign institutions in the United States.
ING spokesman Peter Jong confirmed the published comments, noting that ING was reviewing all of its global businesses. He added that Hommen is in the United States this weekend to review businesses there. ING has extensive US banking and insurance operation, including online bank ING Direct, as well as about half of its insurance business.
Possible scenarios for ING could include applying for US aid, or determining that it could be at a competitive disadvantage there, or deciding the business could stay on course. Aegon, a Dutch insurer, had sought late last year to tap into a US programme to buy troubled assets of US financial firms but later abandoned those plans.
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