ING executive finds Asia-Europe connectivity is in his blood
Robert Scholten explains how on-the-ground finance teams for ING in Europe and history in Asia combined with tailor-made financing solutions give the firm an edge over competitors
Robert Scholten was appointed head of ING Real Estate Finance Asia Pacific in February and is based in Singapore. He started working with ING in 1990 and has more than 23 years of experience in Asia.
He has held senior positions as country head for ING Commercial Banking Indonesia and head of loan syndications Asia Pacific, before his most recent role as head of commercial banking Greater China and Mongolia, where he oversaw a period of strong growth and integrated the business to better connect with ING's European franchise.
Scholten holds an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management and a Master's degree in Law from the University of Utrecht, both in the Netherlands.
At ING Bank we manage a book of approximately €25 billion (HK$210 billion) in real estate finance. There are no specific financing criteria because we look at our clients' needs and try to support them.
That said, we do tend to focus on core, quality assets across key markets that we operate in. And we value our long-term relationships with our clients so we look beyond individual transactions to the potential in growing with the clients mentioned above in the long term.