Thursday April 9, 10:17 AM
ING bank says it will sell $10 bln of assets
THE HAGUE (AFP) - Dutch bank and insurance group ING said on Thursday it planned to sell assets worth up to eight billion euros (10.64 billion dollars) to reduce its risk exposure and to focus on its core business.
It said the sales would affect 10 to 15 business areas in the course of the next few years, leaving the company focused on Europe, life insurance and pension savings.
ING, which got a government capital injection of 10 billion euros last year to help it through the global financial crisis, said it aimed to "focus on fewer activities but more coherent and stronger ones."
The asset sales will result in a group with substantial profitability and strong growth potential, chief executive Jan Hommen said in a statement.
ING, ranked among the top 20 world financial groups by market value, had previously targetted asset sales of two to three billion euros.
Hommen added that more than half of the previously announced 7,000 job cuts to save one billion euros had been achieved by late January.
ING reported a net loss of 3.7 billion euros in the fourth quarter of last year, and for the full year it was in the red for 729 million euros, compared with a 2007 net profit of 9.2 billion euros.
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