ING made a big splash in the international business world in 1995 with its spectacular purchase of troubled Barings Bank.
It further strengthened its global brand in the following years with its sponsorship of the Renault F1 motor racing programme.
But those heady days are over. The group will no longer continue its buying spree and is cutting non-core operations amid the global financial crisis. It has just announced it will stop sponsoring the Formula One racing championships at the end of this year's season.
The cost cutting and back-to-basics approach are the right direction to ensure the group can cope with the crisis, says Hans van der Noordaa, the chairman and chief executive of ING Insurance and Investment Management in the Asia-Pacific region and an executive board member of ING Group.
Despite its history of aggressive acquisitions, Mr Van der Noordaa said ING would not be a suitor for American International Assurance, the largest life insurer in Asia that is now on the block.
'Our focus is to allocate our capital to our core business to navigate through the storm,' the 48-year-old said. 'We have no merger and acquisition plans now.'
The veteran insurer and banker joined ING in 1991 when it was formed by the merger of various other firms. The group now has 85 million customers worldwide. It has a strong presence in Hong Kong and the mainland as a major insurance firm, investment house, pension provider and bank.
