BeamaLife Blog

ING – one of the largest financial services groups based in Europe with a significant presence in the United States, announced plans to split its banking and insurance/investment management operations with the goal of selling off its insurance operations over the next few years.

ING is selling its insurance business to gain approval from European competition authorities for the state-backed bail-out it received during the financial crisis.  The business decision to sell off assets was because of an intervention by the European competition authorities and may take years to unfold as ING will seek to get the best price for these operations to repay the Dutch government.

ING carries secure, investment-grade ratings from all rating organizations and continues to have a broad portfolio of consumer-friendly life insurance and annuity products.  I believe ING have some very distinct competitive advantages in the marketplace and are continue to market these products. In no way should we be concerned with the ING products that our clients currently hold or may be contemplating purchasing in the near future.