OREANDA-NEWS. ING announced today that, as proposed in February 2013 and approved by the Annual General Meeting in May 2013, Ralph Hamers has succeeded Jan Hommen as CEO of ING Group. “It is an honour to follow in the footsteps of Jan, who has shown great determination and personal commitment in the most testing times for ING. On behalf of all at ING, I want to thank him again for leaving us with a stronger, simpler and more customer focused company. It is now up to us to take ING into the next phase - for the bank as well as for our insurance and investment management businesses,” Ralph Hamers said.

As the European Insurance and Investment Management businesses continue to work towards a stand-alone future with the aim of being ready for a base case Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2014, the governance of ING Insurance has been adapted as of today. Lard Friese has been appointed vice-chairman of ING Insurance. In this new role he is responsible for business strategy, performance and day-to-day operations of ING Insurance. As vice-chairman of ING Insurance, Lard Friese will report to Ralph Hamers who as CEO of ING Group is also chairman of the Management Board Insurance.

Lard Friese currently is member of the Management Board Insurance EurAsia and in that role responsible for the European Insurance and Investment Management businesses. Delfin Rueda, Doug Caldwell and Dorothee van Vredenburch, also members of the Management Board Insurance EurAsia, have also been appointed to the Management Board Insurance in their respective roles, reporting to Lard Friese. The governance changes have become effective as of today.

“These appointments are an important and logical step in the preparations for a successful IPO. I am confident that in this period of change, Lard, with his longstanding expertise in the international insurance industry, will lead this business forward,” Ralph Hamers said. “The strong executive team is determined to continue to build an agile organisation that is able to drive change and performance while keeping our customers as the highest priority.”

As announced earlier, in order to expedite the IPO process, ING U.S. has been transferred out of ING Insurance to ING Group per 30 September 2013, clearing the way to use ING Insurance (ING Verzekeringen N.V.) as the IPO entity.

Following the leadership changes, the composition of the Executive Board, the Management Board Banking and the Management Board Insurance will be as follows:

Executive Board
Ralph Hamers, Chief Executive Officer
Patrick Flynn, Chief Financial Officer
Wilfred Nagel, Chief Risk Officer
Management Board Banking
Ralph Hamers, CEO
Koos Timmermans, vice-chairman
Patrick Flynn, CFO
Wilfred Nagel, CRO
William Connelly, CEO Commercial Banking
Eli Leenaars, CEO Retail Banking Direct and International
Hans van der Noordaa, CEO Retail Banking Benelux
Management Board Insurance
Ralph Hamers, CEO
Lard Friese, vice-chairman
Patrick Flynn, CFO
Wilfred Nagel, CRO
Delfin Rueda, CFO Insurance
Doug Caldwell, CRO Insurance
Dorothee van Vredenburch, corporate development, HR, communications