ING strategy update: Accelerating Think Forward
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
* Investment of EUR 800 million in continued digital transformation in order
to further improve customer experience, accelerate growth in primary
customers and lending
* Programmes to also lead to approximately EUR 900 million annual cost savings
by 2021; intended initiatives impact around 7,000 employees, mostly in
Belgium and the Netherlands
'Accelerating Think Forward' is the theme of the strategy update that CEO Ralph
Hamers and other executives will present today at the ING Group Investor Day in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. To accelerate the Think Forward strategy, ING will
introduce a number of initiatives to further improve the customer experience,
further grow primary customers and lending, and increase efficiency.
"Since launching Think Forward in 2014, we have made excellent progress on many
fronts," said Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING. "We attracted over three million new
customers, supported the economy by growing lending by around EUR 56 billion and
strengthened our capital. We did that by focusing on being clear and easy,
anytime, anywhere, and empowering customers to stay a step ahead in life and in
business. We also promised to keep getting better and that is exactly what
today's steps are aimed at. Our recent successes allow us to do so from a
position of strength."
"Customers are increasingly digital and bank with us more and more through
mobile devices. Their needs and expectations are the same, all over the world,
and they expect us to adopt new technology as fast as companies in other
sectors. In order to continue to lead in digital banking, we need to offer a
better customer experience, that's instant, personal, frictionless and relevant.
At the same time, banks are confronted with continuous regulatory burden and a
prolonged period of ultra-low interest rates. These factors put pressure on the
returns which are necessary to fund growth and investments, and cover our cost
of capital."
"In that context, we intend to start a path of convergence towards one digital
banking platform. Countries with similar value propositions intend to harmonise
their business models and develop shared operating platforms. Infrastructure,
data and support functions are intended to be standardised across countries and
business lines. From 2016 to 2021 we intend to invest EUR 800 million in our
digital transformation, building a scalable platform to cater for continued
commercial growth, an improved customer experience and a quicker delivery of new
products. This would allow us to continue our success in growing our client
franchise and diversify our income. Through improved efficiency, the
Accelerating Think Forward programme is expected to deliver approximately
EUR 900 million of annual cost savings by 2021."
"In the Netherlands and Belgium, we intend to improve our customer experience by
moving to an integrated banking platform, leveraging the combined strengths of
the omnichannel capabilities of the Netherlands with the relationship model and
advice capabilities of Belgium. The intended combination would leverage scale
advantages of our 11 million customer base, having one value proposition, one
strategy, one set of systems, one culture and one organization - but with two
legal entities and two balance sheets."
"ING Belgium intends to transform to an omnichannel banking environment. The
intention is to rationalise the network by integrating ING and Record Bank
branches. At the same time, in the Netherlands, we will further optimise a
number of business and support functions. The intended programme would draw on
the experience gained from successful similar large-scale IT projects in the
Netherlands and its adoption of the agile way of working."
"In our Challenger Markets, we will work towards a Model Bank, with one retail
strategy and a harmonised retail proposition, fully focused on increasing
customer interaction. Aimed at further customer and volume growth, we will
deliver a scalable business platform, initially for Spain, Italy, France, Czech
Republic and Austria. The platform can be extended to additional countries,
products and services. An agile, central IT services centre will develop,
maintain and run all needed digital requirements. In Germany we will enhance our
digital banking platform, introducing an omnichannel approach and investing in
scalability to provide room for business growth and improve operational
efficiency."
"In Wholesale Banking we intend to extend our Target Operating Model (TOM)
programme, further driving simplification, business growth and innovation. We
intend to continue to digitalise our client offering through InsideBusiness
across geographies, products and devices. Process improvement initiatives would
enable us to decommission legacy IT systems, while global service centres would
increasingly provide services directly to clients. Our global support functions
including IT, Risk, Finance and HR also intend to roll out TOM-programmes,
streamlining and standardising to enable further convergence of our operations."
"It is inevitable that the various measures and intentions announced today may
have a significant impact on many of our colleagues. It means some functions
will change significantly in nature. It might mean that the location of
functions will change. And it might mean that positions will no longer be there
in the future. All-in-all, over the coming five years, around 7,000 functions
might be impacted by these effects, including 950 positions employed by external
suppliers."
"While not all plans we present today are finalized, the intended initiatives
are expected to result in a reduction of ING's workforce in Belgium by around
3,500 FTEs and by around 2,300 FTEs in the Netherlands for the years 2016-2021.
These numbers include the intended move to an integrated banking platform, with
the remainder of functions affected spread over intended programmes in IT,
operations, Wholesale Banking and various business support functions. At the
same time, we will add colleagues in parts of our business where we expect to
accelerate growth given our plans to continue to attract new customers and
increase lending to support the economies we are active in."
"Regrettably, the steps and intentions announced today would mean that a
significant number of colleagues would have to leave ING. Because of the work we
have done in recent years, we are able to take these intended measures from a
position of strength. This enables us to do our utmost to build on our track
record of helping colleagues who are affected to find new job opportunities. For
the intended workforce reductions, a pre-tax redundancy provision of around EUR
1.1 billion is expected to be booked, of which EUR 1.0 billion in the fourth
quarter of 2016."
"In line with our strategy, we will be introducing ING Group financial targets
for 2020. We will maintain our ING Group CET1 ratio above the prevailing fully-
loaded requirement, currently 12.5%, with a leverage ratio above 4%. Our target
for the cost/income ratio is 50-52%. In light of the continuing regulatory
uncertainty, we are not updating our RoE target (currently 10-13% of ING Bank
IFRS-EU equity), but we reiterate our intention to pay a progressive dividend
over time."
Further details of the various programmes will become available in the coming
months. Wherever there is an impact on the workforce, all intended measures will
be made in accordance with local regulations and will be discussed with the
respective stakeholders.
Note for editors
Ralph Hamers will discuss the announcements made today in a media conference
call on 3 October 2016
at 8:15 a.m. CET. Journalists can join the conference call via the Q&A-mode at
+31 20 531 5871 (NL) or +44 203 365 3210 (UK) or via live audio webcast at
www.ing.com.
All presentations at the ING Investor Day are available online
(www.ing.com/investorday). The keynote speeches by Ralph Hamers and Patrick
Flynn (starting shortly after 10.00 a.m. CET) can be followed live via webcast
at www.ing.com.
For further information on ING, please visit www.ing.com. Frequent news updates
can be found in the Newsroom or via the (at)ING_news Twitter feed. Photos of ING
operations, buildings and its executives are available for download at Flickr.
Footage (B-roll) of ING is available via videobankonline.com, or can be
requested by emailing info(at)videobankonline.com. ING presentations are available
at SlideShare.
Press enquiries Investor enquiries
Raymond Vermeulen ING Group Investor Relations
+31 20 576 6369 +31 20 576 6396
Raymond.Vermeulen(at)ing.com Investor.Relations(at)ing.com
ING PROFILE
ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering
banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING
Bank is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING
Bank's 52,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to
customers in over 40 countries.
ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, ING.AS),
Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).
Sustainability forms an integral part of ING's strategy, which is evidenced by
the number one position among 395 banks ranked by Sustainalytics. ING Group
shares are being included in the FTSE4Good index and in the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index (Europe and World) where ING is among the leaders in the
Banks industry group.
IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION
Elements of this press release contain or may contain information about ING
Groep N.V. and/or ING Bank N.V. within the meaning of Article 7(1) to (4) of
EU Regulation No 596/ 2014.
All projects described are proposed intentions of the bank. No formal
decisions will be taken until the information & consultation with the Work
Council have been properly finalized. Subject also to regulatory approval.
Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts,
including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations
and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's current
views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially
from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results,
performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due
to, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in
particular economic conditions in ING's core markets, (2) changes in
performance of financial markets, including developing markets, (3)
consequences of a potential (partial) break-up of the euro, (4) potential
consequences of European Union countries leaving the European Union, (5)
changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, sources of
liquidity such as interbank funding, as well as conditions in the credit
markets generally, including changes in borrower and counterparty
creditworthiness, (6) changes affecting interest rate levels, (7) changes
affecting currency exchange rates, (8) changes in investor and customer
behaviour, (9) changes in general competitive factors, (10) changes in laws
and regulations, (11) changes in the policies of governments and/or regulatory
authorities, (12) conclusions with regard to purchase accounting assumptions
and methodologies, (13) changes in ownership that could affect the future
availability to us of net operating loss, net capital and built-in loss carry
forwards, (14) changes in credit ratings, (15) ING's ability to achieve
projected operational synergies and (16) the other risks and uncertainties
detailed in the most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V. (including the
Risk Factors contained therein) and ING's more recent disclosures, including
press releases, which are available on www.ING.com. Any forward looking
statements made by or on behalf of ING speak only as of the date they are
made, and, ING assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-
looking statements, whether as a result of new information or for any other
reason.
This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an
offer to purchase, any securities in the United States or any other
jurisdiction.
PDF version of press release:
http://hugin.info/130668/R/2046095/764546.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: ING Group via GlobeNewswire
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 03.10.2016 - 07:29 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 498239
Anzahl Zeichen: 14219
contact information:
Town:
Amsterdam
Kategorie:
Business News
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