“We restructured the group into six business lines to improve transparency, accountability and client focus,” says chairman Michel Tilmant. “We also reviewed our portfolio of businesses, divesting underperforming or non-core units, which freed up €1.5bn in regulatory capital in 2004 to reduce the leverage of the group. As a result, ING is now better positioned to capitalise on the many growth opportunities in the group, such as life assurance in emerging markets and ING Direct.
“In mature banking markets such as the Netherlands and Belgium, we are focusing on delivering value-added products and superior service to our wholesale and retail banking customers, while optimising efficiency and returns.”
ING Direct, one of the group’s main growth drivers, has developed a unique competitive advantage. With its focused approach, it is quickly building scale and has become the world’s leading direct bank. It managed to achieve this through a strong customer focus, offering a limited range of simple products through direct channels at a very low cost.
