Group underlying net profit of EUR 891 million from EUR 844 million in 3Q12 and EUR 957 million in 2Q13
·
3Q13 net profit EUR 101 million, or EUR 0.03 per share, including discontinued operations, special items and divestment

Bank underlying result before tax of EUR 1,103 million, in line with 3Q12 but down 3.8% sequentially
·
Net interest margin rose to 1.44% in 3Q13 and the cost/income ratio for the first nine months of 2013 improved to 55.2%
·
Risk costs declined 10.4% from 2Q13, but remained elevated at EUR 552 million, or 80 bps of average RWA
·
Core Tier 1 ratio rose to 12.4%, or 12.1% on a pro-forma basis including today's payment to the State and the IABF unwind

Insurance EurAsia operating result rose to EUR 218 million, up 89.6% versus 3Q12 but 14.8% lower than 2Q13
·
Results driven by higher investment margin, lower expenses from the Benelux transformation plan and improved Non-life results
·
Underlying pre-tax result of EUR 136 million; up versus 3Q12 but down sequentially due to seasonality of dividend income in 2Q13
·
Insurance EurAsia IGD solvency ratio lower at 255% reflecting the change in NN Life's solvency ratio and the sale of ING Life Korea


ING is advancing further into the end phase of its restructuring programme, which will now be completed by 2016
·
EUR 1.125 billion payment to Dutch State completed today; agreement reached on unwinding of Illiquid Assets Back-up Facility
·
Sale of ING Life Korea expected to close by year-end; ING Life Japan to be included within the base case IPO of ING Insurance
·
ING Group's stake in ING U.S. reduced to 57%; Group double leverage covered by remaining stakes in ING U.S. and SulAmérica

Chairman's Statement
"ING continued to make strong progress on its restructuring programme in the third quarter, advancing further into the end phase of our transformation," said Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group. "At the same time, our businesses recorded another good set of quarterly results while delivering on our strategic priorities."

"Under a new agreement with the European Commission, the total restructuring of ING Group will now be completed two years earlier, by the end of 2016. The divestment of the Asian insurance and investment management activities is almost complete. The sale of ING Life Korea is expected to close by year-end. We have carefully explored and evaluated several divestment options for ING Life Japan, and have now included this business within the scope of the base case IPO of ING Insurance. Preparations for the base case IPO are progressing well and we will be ready to go to the market in 2014. The successful sale of 38 million ING U.S. shares in October brought our stake down to 57% and moves us close to meeting the requirement to divest more than 50% of the U.S. by the end of 2014. The EUR 4.8 billion of leverage in the Group holding company is covered by the proceeds from our share sales of ING U.S. and SulAmérica this year, together with the market values of our remaining stakes in these companies."

"We are grateful for the support the Dutch State extended to us during the crisis. Strong capital generation at the Bank facilitated the payment of another tranche of core Tier 1 securities today, reducing the principal amount of outstanding State aid to EUR 1.5 billion. We are also very pleased to have reached an agreement with the State on the unwinding of the Illiquid Assets Back-up Facility."

"The various performance improvement programmes and restructuring initiatives underway across the company are on track, and the results are encouraging. Underlying pre-tax results at ING Bank were solid at EUR 1,103 million, driven by an increase of the net interest margin to 1.44%. Commercially, the net inflow of funds entrusted was sound at EUR 1.9 billion. Risk costs declined from both previous quarters, but remained elevated. Strong cost control continues to be a priority at the Bank and is evident in the improvement of the cost/income ratio to 55.2% for the first nine months of 2013, despite additional restructuring charges in the third quarter from ongoing reorganisations. The year-to-date return on IFRS-EU equity was 9.3%, within reach of our 2015 target."

"The Bank's capital position strengthened further to a 12.1% pro-forma core Tier 1 ratio, after today's payment to the Dutch State and including the estimated impact from unwinding the IABF. ING Bank is continuously working to optimise its capital structure and is already meeting most of the CRD IV requirements. In order to reinforce our capital adequacy ahead of upcoming regulation, we are launching exchange offers for EUR 4.7 billion of outstanding subordinated debt into two CRD IV-compliant securities. We have also announced our intention to call a USD 2.0 billion hybrid with an 8.5% coupon, which will reduce our cost of capital."

"At Insurance EurAsia, both operating and underlying results improved compared with a year ago, rising to EUR 218 million and EUR 136 million, respectively. Third-quarter results primarily reflected a higher investment margin, lower expenses as a result of the transformation programme in Insurance Benelux, and better performance in Non-life. On a sequential basis, results at Insurance EurAsia declined mainly due to seasonally higher dividend income in the second quarter."

"We are proud of the financial and strategic progress that we have achieved this quarter. I am very determined and excited to be leading ING during this next phase of its transformation, and am convinced that our focused, simpler and stronger company is well positioned to help our customers and society prosper, and to grow our business."

ING announces liability management actions


ING Bank announces exchange offers into CRD-IV eligible Tier 2 securities for seven series of lower Tier 2 debt totalling approximately EUR 4.7 billion
Additionally, ING Bank announces it will call USD 2 billion 8.5% Tier 1 hybrid per call date 15 December 2013 to lower cost of capital
Liability management actions will further optimise capital structure of ING Bank ahead of implementation of CRD-IV legislation and have been approved by European Commission (EC) and Dutch Central Bank


ING Bank announced today a number of liability management actions. ING will offer bondholders an opportunity to exchange seven series of subordinated debt into CRD-IV eligible Tier 2 securities. This enables ING to proactively optimise the Bank's capital structure in anticipation of the upcoming CRD-IV implementation. In addition ING Bank will call USD 2 billion of hybrid Tier 1 securities which will lower its funding costs. The European Commission has authorized the transactions.



The contribution of the subordinated debt that is currently included as lower Tier 2 in the Bank's total capital ratio will gradually diminish following the implementation date of CRD-IV on 1 January 2014. The exchange of the seven series of lower Tier 2 debt securities with a total nominal value of EUR 4.7 billion at current exchange rates into two CRD-IV eligible Tier 2 securities will further optimise the capital structure of ING Bank while maintaining its strong capital position.



In addition, ING Bank announced its intention to call a USD 2 billion 8.5% Hybrid Tier 1 as the capital contribution of non CRD-IV eligible Hybrid securities to the Bank's Tier 1 capital will diminish by approximately the same amount from 1 January 2014 based on CRD-IV. The successful issuance in September 2013 of the USD 2.0 billion 5.8% CRD-IV eligible Tier 2 security replaces the USD 2 billion 8.5% Tier 1 Hybrid in the total capital structure. The transaction will reduce the cost of capital and will contribute to future earnings.



The transactions are not expected to have a material impact on ING Bank's results. However, as agreed with the EC, the net present value of the financial benefits realised through these transactions will be used to increase the next repayment of core Tier 1 securities to the Dutch State, scheduled for March 2014, whereas the final payment scheduled for May 2015 will be lowered by the same amount. The total amount of the repayment to the Dutch State remains unchanged.





Any future decisions by ING as to whether it will exercise (or cause to be exercised) calls in respect of the debt securities that are not exchanged pursuant to the relevant exchange offer will be made on an economic basis, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders. Other factors that ING will consider include prevailing market conditions, regulatory approval and capital requirements as well as authorisation from the European Commission. Based on the EC Restructuring Agreement as announced in November 2012, ING requires authorization from the EC to execute liability management actions until 18 November 2014, or when the State aid is repaid in full, whichever comes first.


ING to include ING Life Japan in ING Insurance IPO .


ING, EC agree on revised timelines for European and Japanese insurance divestments
ING Life Japan to be divested in line with timelines for European Insurance/IM units
Timeline to divest more than 50% of European Insurance/IM units unchanged at end 2015
Timeline to divest 100% of European Insurance/IM businesses accelerated to end 2016
Preparations for the base case IPO of ING Insurance in 2014 are on track
Segment reporting for ING Life Japan units triggers EUR 0.6 bln pre-tax charge in 4Q13
ING announced today that it will expand the scope of the base case Initial Public Offering (IPO) of ING Insurance to include ING Life Japan. In that context, ING and the Dutch State have reached an agreement with the European Commission (EC) on a revised timeline for the divestment process. Preparations for an IPO of ING Insurance in 2014 are on track.

"After carefully exploring and evaluating the options available to us for the divestment of ING Life Japan, we have come to the conclusion that a standalone sale of this business is not feasible in a manner that meets the demands of our stakeholders. In that context, ING Life Japan will be included in the scope of the ING Insurance IPO," said Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group.

As part of a previously announced restructuring agreement with the EC, ING planned to divest more than 50% of ING's Asian insurance and investment management businesses by the end of 2013. ING successfully divested most of these businesses over the course of the past year. Under the revised timelines announced today, ING will divest ING Life Japan in line with the divestment timeline for ING's European insurance and investment management activities. This means that the timeline to divest more than 50% of ING Life Japan has effectively been extended by two years to year-end 2015, which is also the unchanged timeline to divest more than 50% of ING's European insurance and investment management businesses. As part of the revised agreement, ING will accelerate the timeline to complete the divestment of 100% of ING's European insurance and investment management activities by two years to year-end 2016.

ING previously announced that ING Insurance will be the entity for the base case IPO of ING's European insurance and investment management activities. ING Life Japan will now be included - together with the European insurance and investment management activities - in the scope of the IPO of ING Insurance, strengthening and diversifying the overall profile of the company.

"Today's announcement provides further clarity on the planned IPO of ING Insurance which is preparing itself to be ready to go to the market in 2014," added Ralph Hamers. "While we still have work ahead of us, I'm looking forward to completing the Group restructuring by end 2016 at the latest, and seeing our Bank and Insurance businesses pursue their own future success as standalone companies."

ING's European insurance and investment management businesses operate across Europe in both mature and growth markets. Together these businesses form a leading insurance and investment management company with a strong presence in more than 15 countries and a clear focus on delivering excellent customer service.

ING Life Japan is comprised of two parts: the operating business, predominantly Corporate Owned Life Insurance (COLI); and the Closed Block Variable Annuities (VA) business. The operating business is a segment-leading player with a strong distribution network of more than 5,000 registered agents. It has consistently produced strong sales and profitability, generating both capital and cash flow. The Closed Block VA business is also expected to contribute to the capital generation of ING Insurance. ING Life Japan stopped selling variable annuities in 2009, and a large part of the in-force portfolio consists of accumulation benefits products with a 10-year maturity. The guarantees on this portfolio are reinsured to ING Re in the Netherlands and approximately 90% of the policyholder obligations are expected to run off in 2019. Based on ING Group 3Q13 Results published today, the Japanese businesses account for approximately 20% of the combined pro-forma operating result of ING Insurance as the entity that is preparing for IPO in 2014.

In view of the expanded scope and in the context of the IPO preparations, ING Insurance is implementing a number of reporting changes to increase transparency of reporting and ensure consistency in the accounting of the different portfolios within the Japanese Closed Block VA.

As of the fourth quarter, ING Life Japan and the Japanese Closed Block VA guarantees reinsured to ING Re will no longer be classified as held for sale and discontinued operations, and ING Insurance will be adopting a new reporting segmentation to better align to the businesses it comprises and their governance. Within ING Insurance, the ING Life Japan business will be presented in two segments: Japan Life and Japan Closed Block VA. As of each segment the net insurance liability needs to be adequate at the 50% confidence level, an approximately EUR 0.6 billion P&L pre-tax charge is triggered in the fourth quarter of 2013 as a consequence of implementing the segmented reporting, to bring the reserve adequacy of the Japan Closed Block VA to the 50% mark.

In addition, ING is considering changing the accounting for death benefit guarantees within Japan Closed Block VA towards fair value accounting as from 1 January 2014, bringing the entire Japan business to fair value accounting. If implemented, this would result in a pre-tax charge to equity of approximately EUR 0.4 billion.

While these steps would reduce ING Insurance's IFRS equity by approximately EUR 1.0 billion pre-tax (approximately EUR 0.7 billion after tax), they would not impact the regulatory capital of ING Life Japan or the economic capital of ING Re. Further details regarding the accounting implications of today 's announcement are available in the ING Group 3Q13 Quarterly Report published today.