ING Direct 2002 Annual Report Download - page 36

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Annual Report 2002 · ING Group 33
ING Europe
In Greece, a strategic alliance with Bank
Piraeus was completed. Under the terms of the
alliance, joint ventures have been established in
the fields of asset management, retail banc-
assurance and pensions with ING holding 50.1%
majorities. ING has taken a 5% stake in Bank
Piraeus, while Bank Piraeus took a 20% stake in
ING Nationale-Nederlanden Greece.
Outlook ING Europe
The weak economic growth prospects for
mature markets in Europe limit ING’s income
and profit growth potential in the region.
However, there remain very significant
opportunities for growth, such as the savings
boom, pension reform and EU enlargement. ING
is well-placed to take advantage of these
opportunities. The retail businesses, for instance,
are benefiting from the shift in demand to low-
risk financial products such as savings accounts
and fixed-income life insurance. Another
opportunity lies in pension business. Through-
out Europe, governments are seeking to reform
their pension systems. ING is positioning itself to
become a preferred supplier of corporate and
individual pension plans given its expertise in
pensions. Central Europe continues to offer good
growth prospects for financial services, especially
following the EU accession agreements with a
number of countries.
Besides attractive opportunities, ING
Europe is also facing a low-growth economic
environment in the near future. To offset the
effects on income and results, expense levels
must be lowered but at the same time the
quality level of both products and service must
be improved. The operations/IT work in progress
to create shared service centres and upgrade and
standardise IT-infrastructure and applications
plays a critical role in this process.
Another important challenge is to improve
the profitability of wholesale banking. This
entails successfully carrying out the restructuring
plans and headcount reductions announced in
2002 as well as lowering the loan-loss ratio. The
turnaround of the corporate banking business
of ING BHF-Bank in Germany is a matter of
urgency in this respect.
A further goal for 2003 will be to take
advantage of the transfer of ING Investment
Management Europe to ING Europe by
combining the investment strength of IIM with
the strong distribution capabilities.
Effectively meeting these and other
challenges will ensure a profitable future for the
combined businesses of ING Europe.

ING well-placed to profit
from savings boom,
pension reform and EU
enlargement
—
Challenges are to improve
the profitability of
wholesale banking and
take advantage of the
strength of ING
Investment Management