Amsterdam - 14 December 2006
ING Groep N.V. (ING) today announced that its life insurance joint venture with Beijing Capital Group, ING Capital Life Insurance Company (ING Capital Life), has received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to begin the set-up of branch operations in Henan Province in China.
ING Capital Life will be the first Sino-foreign joint venture to begin operations in Henan, which has the largest population and ranks number five in terms of Gross Domestic Product among China's 31 provinces and municipalities.
Over the next six months, ING Capital Life will set up a new branch in Zhengzhou, the capital
of Henan Province. The licence will also allow ING to apply to the local Henan CIRC office to open sales and marketing offices across the province, enabling ING Capital Life to sell insurance products to approximately 100 million people.
Hans van der Noordaa, Chairman of ING Insurance Asia/Pacific and Executive Board member of ING Group, stated: "We are delighted to receive the approval for Henan Province so closely on the heels of the branch opening in Shangdong and the set-up of two sales and marketing offices as part of our Shenyang licence. Pending approval, ING Capital Life will now be able to set the standard in helping almost 250 million customers across China to manage their financial future[i]."
ING currently operates in twelve cities in China. ING Capital Life already operates in Dalian, Beijing, Shenyang, Jinan, Anshan and Panjin. ING's second life insurance joint venture, Pacific Antai Life Insurance Company, is active in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Nanhai and Shunde. Other ING businesses in China include retail banking through its 19.9% stake in Bank of Beijing; corporate and investment banking through ING Wholesale Banking; asset management through China Merchants Fund Management, and properties development and investment through ING Real Estate in Beijing, Changsha and Shanghai.
[i] 2005 estimates show that ING Capital Life's potential customer base in China includes 42.2 million customers in Liaoning Province, in which the cities of Dalian and Shenyang are located, 15.4 million in Beijing, 92.5 million in Shandong Province, and 97 million in Henan Province.
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Press enquiries:
Debbie Brand, ING Group, +31 (0) 20 541 65 26, debbie.brand@ing.com
Karen Williams, ING Asia/Pacific, +852 2913 8536, karen.williams@ap.ing.com |
ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to over 60 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50 countries. With a diverse workforce of approximately 115,000 people, ING comprises a broad spectrum of prominent companies that increasingly serve their clients under the ING brand.
[i] 2005 estimates show that ING Capital Life's potential customer base in China includes 42.2 million customers in Liaoning Province, in which the cities of Dalian and Shenyang are located, 15.4 million in Beijing, 92.5 million in Shandong Province, and 97 million in Henan Province.
