ING fires 1000 employees in the wake of second COVID-19 wave

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ING removes around 1000 jobs from the business bank and activities for consumers abroad. According to the Financial Group, the intervention is necessary, inter alia, because of the unfavourable economic climate. ING does not exclude the loss of jobs in the Netherlands, but the trade unions have to discuss this first.

The coronacrisis is pressing heavily on the bank’s results. In the third quarter, ING’s profits were again significantly lower than they were a year ago. Under the line, EUR 788 million remained, with a profit of EUR 1.3 billion in the same period last year.

“The pandemic continues to have a significant impact everywhere,” says CEO Steven van Rijswijk. The second wave of COVID and the new lockdown puts additional pressure on companies and consumers. But how the situation is going to develop is still difficult to estimate. Since the beginning of the crisis, ING has granted a large number of customers a deferral. Some of them have recently resumed their normal course of action, and ING has very few payment problems with those customers.

Van Rijswijk believes that the bank also shows resilience. He stresses that because of its buffers, ING is still able to provide “for a very long time” coronary care to customers. The results were also significantly better in recent months than in the second quarter. During that period ING had to set aside more than EUR 1.3 billion for loans that may never be repaid. This time, only 469 million euros will go to the noose jar. Another EUR 140 million will be written off on a software project of its own.

In order to adapt better to the circumstances, ING decided to focus more on its main customers at the business bank. In order to serve the remaining customers, the bank believes that it will need fewer staff across the board. Small offices will also be closed in Asia and South America. The consumer activities where jobs are lost are in countries such as Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Behind the scenes, ING has more than 4000 people working on the bank’s efforts to combat money laundering. ING had to go deep through the substance a few years ago when the group was fined EUR 775 million for defective money laundering. In recent months, small new issues have come to light. For example, ING Belgium’s anti-money laundering controls were not quite in order. It was also known that the Polish daughter of the bank had a number of customers for years leaving dubious money out of Russia. ING does not yet have any indications that these issues could lead to additional sanctions.


By: Abaigael Schlomski

Abaigael Schlomski is an accomplished economist and financial journalist with over a decade of experience in the industry. He is a regular contributor to EconomicInform, where he provides in-depth analysis and expert commentary on the latest economic trends and events. With a keen understanding of the financial markets and a talent for breaking down complex economic concepts for a general audience, Maurice is a trusted and respected voice in the field.

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