“A big thank-you to tax payers, the Dutch State and shareholders”
CEO Ralph Hamers
ING’s AGM was held on 12 May 2014. All agenda items that were voted on were accepted by a large majority.
In his opening words, ING’s Executive Board chairman, Ralph Hamers, said that the turnout of shareholders, depositary receipt holders and representatives of institutional investors and stakeholders was heartwarming, showing a great interest in the company, which went through an interesting phase in the past few years.
Hamers then quickly took the audience through a number of key financial and non-financial highlights.
“ING listens to its customers and seriously tries to improve its services”, said Hamers. This has led to market recognition, evidenced by for example the “Gouden Oor” award for Nationale-Nederlanden’s customer complaints settlement in the Netherlands, and the Bank won Best Bank awards in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Western-Europe.
He also explained the 2013 figures and performance as well as the progress made in achieving the strategic priorities. Financially, 2013 was also a successful year for ING. The Bank’s 2013 underlying net result improved with nearly one billion euros, and the underlying net result over Q12014 of the Group was also strong, at EUR 988 million, mainly driven by a strong performance at ING Bank and an improvement of the results from NN Group.
Staff members at the NN Group billboard
Restructuring
The separation of the banking and insurance/investment management operations has largely been completed. A milestone in 2013 was the IPO – in May – of ING U.S., now active under the name “Voya Financial”. The divestment of ING’s Asian insurance and investment management activities has been completed. The execution of the base case IPO of NN Group is anticipated for 2014.
“We’ve also worked hard on repaying the Dutch State”, said Hamers. “So far we’ve repaid EUR 12.5 billion and we intend to repay the last tranche ultimately in May 2015. Every day, we’re thankful to the tax payers and the Dutch State for the support we received in 2008 and 2009.”
Summarising, Ralph Hamers said that ING is simpler, stronger and sustainable.
For more information about the future plans of ING Bank and NN Group, please access all meeting documents
Dividend policy
ING’s dividend policy was also discussed at the meeting. ING will not pay a dividend in respect of 2013. It intends to resume dividend payments over the financial year 2015, of at least 40% of the company’s profit, or higher.
2014 AGM documents
Please visit www.ing.com/agm for all documentation relating to the meeting, including the agenda, presentations and archived webcast. The CVs of all those involved and other directors can be found by visiting www.ing.com.about us/corporate governance.
Draft minutes
The draft minutes of the 2014 annual General Meeting will be available on the ING website (www.ing.com) on 12 August 2014.
2014 AGM meeting hall