ING named best Benelux broker for fifth consecutive year

Professional investors have named ING Commercial Banking the best stockbroker in the Benelux for the fifth year running at the annual Extel Awards ceremony, held in London this afternoon..

The international professional investors praised the quality of ING’s equity analysts. The professional investors also rated ING highly in terms of providing corporate and investor access, to give companies optimal access to the capital markets.

The pan-European Extel Survey by Thomson Reuters is the largest of its kind, with more than 7,500 respondents from 62 countries and more than 250,000 individual votes cast.

ING achieved the following scores in the Benelux category:

We’re very proud of this as our clients’ appreciation is the most important recognition of our efforts to provide the best services,”

says Richard Koning, head of equity sales at ING Commercial Banking.

“In the current market environment, both listed companies and investors are extremely critical. They have to be able to trust their broker to provide optimal access to all markets and market players, and they need to know that transactions will be conducted smoothly,” says Koning. “ING has analysts, sales staff and traders in Amsterdam and Brussels and a sales team in New York. This means close ties with and direct access to company management, investors and our other investment banking activities.”

Koning: “It is important for us that we receive high ratings in all areas of our services – research, sales, sales trading and corporate access. “ ING was recently involved in a range of important deals, such as facilitating capital raising for Deutsche Bank, Grontmij, BAM, Montea en Imtech. ING is also involved in listings for Altice, Euronext en Coface and the planned IPO NN Group.

The fact that ING analysts once more score highly among investors is a recognition of ING’s choice for in-depth medium-term research, without losing sight of short-term opportunities, according to Marco Gulpers, head of equity research. “The fact that we already started early 2013 with giving our vision on the return of Benelux companies’ profitability, and thus on the recovery of the stock market, has certainly contributed to this recognition. And by regularly updating our vision, we have also been able to respond to change. Our analysts have focused on further improving corporate access”.