• ING Group annual report (2000) Part I
• ING Group annual report (2000) Part II
• ING Group annual report (2000) Part III
• ING Group annual report (2000) Part IV
• ING Group annual report (2001) Part I
• ING Group annual report (2001) Part II
• ING Group annual report (2002)
• ING Group annual report (2003)
• ING Group annual report (2004)

ING Groep N.V. (ING Group) is a global financial institution of Dutch origin, which is active in the fields of banking, insurance and asset management in more than 50 countries, with over 113,000 employees.

ING provides a full range of integrated financial services to private, corporate and Institutional clients through a variety of distribution channels, giving them the freedom to choose the option which best suits their individual needs.

ING Group comprises a broad spectrum of prominent companies working closely with the customer. Many of them operate under their own brand names. ING's strategy, which sets clear objectives, seeks to achieve stable growth while maintaining healthy profitability. The Group's financial strength, its broad range of products and services, the wide diversity of its profit sources and the good spread of risks form the basis for ING's continuity and growth potential.

In all its operations, ING strikes a careful balance between the interests of its customers, its shareholders and its employees. It is conscious of its responsibilities in a changing society.

Responsiveness to the needs of its customers, entrepreneurship, professionalism, teamwork and integrity are paramount in all ING's activities.

The Company markets its products and services under a variety of brand names, including Nationale-Nederlanden, ING Bank and Postbank in the Netherlands; Bank Brussel Lambert in Belgium; BHF-BANK in Germany; Mercantile Mutual in Australia; and ING Direct worldwide. ING Group is divided into four segments: ING Europe, ING Americas, ING Asia/Pacific and ING Asset Management.

ING Europe's strategy is to have substantial retail and wholesale market shares in its home markets and to offer its retail, corporate and institutional clients a comprehensive range of insurance, asset management and banking services. The Company has over 16 million European retail clients, most of which are based in its home markets of the Netherlands (54%), Belgium (15%) and Poland (15%), where clients are offered a full range of banking, insurance and asset management services through a wide choice of channels. The Company's wholesale activities encompass corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions advisory, origination of capital market products, securitization, corporate and structured lending, cash management and international payments, wholesale insurance and employee benefits. The wholesale strategy is to offer the Company's global and European corporate and institutional clients a comprehensive range of corporate and investment banking services, and tailor-made advisory and structured products.

ING Americas is comprised of business units operating in three broad geographic-based units in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The primary products and services provided in ING Americas' units are various types of insurance, mutual funds, brokerage services and institutional products, including reinsurance and guaranteed investment contracts. ING Americas offers other products and services, including corporate and investment banking as well as retail and institutional asset management, in these geographic areas through businesses in other globally focused executive centres.

ING Asia/Pacific is responsible for ING Group's retail strategy in delivering integrated financial services in the key markets in the Asia/Pacific region. A functional regional office in Hong Kong supports all business units in the region, ensures strategy and policy is implemented, encourages synergy both regionally and globally, and reports on a consolidated basis to headquarters in Amsterdam. ING Asia/Pacific focuses on the individual and Small and Medium Enterprises markets, providing a full range of products distributed via the channel of choice of the customer. Within the region, markets develop and mature based upon regulatory reform and the expectations of the community, and, as a result ING Group's strategies in the region, vary by country and market.
A growing market in Asia/Pacific is the defined contribution pension market, historically significant in Australia, but now developing in Japan and Hong Kong, and a developing opportunity and need in the other key markets in the region. A major strategic focus for ING Asia/Pacific was to develop scale and effective presence in its key markets. In 2000 this strategy was strongly augmented by the ING Group's acquisition of Aetna's financial services businesses in Asia/Pacific. Following closure of the Aetna transaction in December 2000, the integration and alignment increased market positions in Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia, while supporting ING Group's existing presence in Australia, Japan and Korea.

The responsibilities of ING Asset Management comprise asset management for ING Group's insurance companies, management of its mutual funds, asset and relationship management for institutional investors, international private banking, real estate, private equity and venture capital activities. ING Asset Management is comprised of the following eight business units: ING Investment Management, Baring Asset Management, ING Baring Private Bank, ING Real Estate, ING Trust, Parcom Ventures, Baring Private Equity Partners and ING Furman Selz Asset Management.

Already operating in Canada, Australia, France, Spain, Italy and USA, ING DIRECT offers a greater-value alternative to conventional banking. ING DIRECT is intended to simplify banking. It focuses on efficiency, simplicity, and using technology to streamline its services, passing on the savings to consumers in the form of better interest rates. As the name ING DIRECT suggests, it deals with customers direct without a branch network to maintain. Customers can take care of their banking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over the phone, via interactive website or by mail. ING DIRECT delivers core products that include a high interest savings accounts and a low interest loan accounts. ING DIRECT continues to attract customers around the globe and hit a new milestone on March 6, 2002 when the three millionth worldwide customers opened an account with ING DIRECT.

ING worldwide

• 60 million customers
• 113,000 employees
• 50 countries
• EUR 1,134 billion in total assets
• 14th largest financial group in the world
• 7th largest Europe-based financial group
• No.1 financial group in the Netherlands
• No.1 in USA life/annuity premiums
• No.1 broker/dealer network in USA
• No.1 life insurer in South America
• No.1 life insurer in Central Europe