ING Direct 2015 Annual Report Download - page 135

Contents
Who we are
Report of the
Management
Board
Corporate
Governance
Consolidated
annual accounts
Parent company
annual accounts
Other
information
Additional
information
Notes to the Consolidated annual accounts of ING Bank - continued
In January 2011, the Dutch Association of Stockholders (Vereniging van Effectenbezitters, ‘VEB’) issued a writ alleging that investors
were misled by the prospectus that was issued with respect to the September 2007 rights issue of Fortis N.V. (now Ageas N.V.) against
Ageas N.V., the underwriters of such rights issue, including ING Bank N.V., and former directors of Fortis N.V. According to the VEB the
prospectus shows substantive incorrect and misleading information. The VEB states that the impact and the risks of the sub-prime
crisis for Fortis and Fortis’ liquidity position were reflected incorrectly in the prospectus. The VEB requests a declaratory decision stating
that the summoned parties acted wrongfully and are therefore responsible for the damages suffered by the investors in Fortis. The
amount of damages of EUR 18 billion has yet to be substantiated. ING is defending itself against this claim; at this time ING is not able
to assess the outcome of the court proceeding. Therefore, at this moment it is not practicable to provide an estimate of the (potential)
financial effect of such action.
In July 2011, the Interest Group ING General Managers’ Pensions (Belangenvereniging ING Directiepensioenen), together with a
number of individual retired Dutch General Managers of ING, instituted legal proceedings against ING’s decision not to provide funding
for indexing Dutch General Managers’ pensions directly insured with Nationale-Nederlanden in 2010 and 2011. This claim was rejected
by the District Court of Amsterdam on 22 October 2012. Appeal against this District Court decision was rejected by the Amsterdam
Court of Appeal on 28 July 2015 which became final on 28 October 2015.
A number of retired employees of ING Belgium have initiated legal proceedings against ASCEL (a non-profit organisation established
by ING Belgium that provided, amongst others, medical insurance coverage to current and retired employees till the beginning of
2015) and ING Belgium following the decision to externalise this medical insurance coverage which resulted in an increase of premium.
Following a summary proceedings in which the initial claim of the retired employees was rejected, proceedings at the Court of first
instance has been initiated aiming to either uphold the former insurance coverage or reimburse the increase of premium. At this
moment it is not practicable to provide an estimate of the (potential) financial impact of such proceedings.
ING is involved in several legal proceedings in the Netherlands with respect to interest rate derivatives that were sold to clients in
connection with floating interest rate loans in order to hedge the interest rate risk of the loans. These proceedings are based on
several legal grounds, depending on the facts and circumstances of each specific case, a.o. alleged breach of duty of care, insufficient
information provided to the clients on the product and its risks and other elements related to the interest rate derivatives that were
sold to clients. In some cases, the court has ruled in favour of the claimants and awarded damages, annulled the interest rate
derivative or ordered repayment of certain amounts to the claimants. The total amounts that need to be repaid or compensated in
some cases still need to be determined. ING may decide to appeal against adverse rulings. As requested by the Netherlands Authority
for the Financial Markets (‘AFM’) ING has reviewed a significant part of the files of clients who bought interest rate derivatives. In
December 2015, the AFM concluded that Dutch banks may have to re-assess certain client files, potentially including derivative
contracts that were terminated prior to April 2014 or other client files. Discussions with the AFM on the re-assessment are ongoing.
Although the outcome of the pending litigation and similar cases that may be brought in the future, is uncertain, it is possible that the
courts may ultimately rule in favour of the claimants in some or all of such cases. A provision has been taken on a best estimate basis.
However, the aggregate financial impact of the current and future litigation as well as the potential (re-)assessment of files following
discussion with the AFM could become material.
45 Companies and business acquired and divested
Acquisitions and Divestments effective in 2015
There were no significant acquisitions or divestments in 2015.
For details on the transactions in 2015 with regard to ING’s interest in ING Vysya, reference is made to Note 11 ‘Assets held for sale’,
Note 7 ‘Investments in associates and joint ventures’ and Note 50 ‘Other events’.
Acquisitions and Divestments effective in 2014
There were no significant acquisitions or divestments in 2014.
For details on the transactions in 2014 with regard to ING’s interest in ING Vysya reference is made to Note 50 ‘Other events’.
Acquisitions effective in 2013
There were no significant acquisitions in 2013.
Divestments effective in 2013
ING Direct UK
In October 2012, ING reached an agreement to sell ING Direct UK to Barclays. Under the terms of the agreement, the approximately
EUR 13.4 billion (GBP 11.6 billion) of savings deposits and approximately EUR 6.4 billion (GBP 5.5 billion) of mortgages of ING Direct UK
were transferred to Barclays. The agreement resulted in an after tax loss of EUR 260 million which was recognised in 2012. The
transaction closed on 6 March 2013 and a gain of EUR 10 million was recognised on the final settlement. In 2012, ING Direct UK was
classified as held for sale. ING Direct UK was included in the segment, formerly named Retail Rest of World.
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