ING Announces First Quarter 2003 ING Gazelle Index Results

With the United States engaged in a conflict with Iraq during the first quarter of 2003, economic confidence among African-American CEOs declined for the third consecutive quarter. In the first quarter of 2003, the ING Gazelle Index registered a 37.9 (on a scale of 100), which is down from 44 in the fourth quarter of 2002. Despite the negative outlook, 47.4 percent of CEOs surveyed expect to increase hiring in the next three months. Approximately 42 percent of the Gazelle CEOs indicated that the conflict with Iraq was the primary reason for pessimism about the current and future state of the economy.

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The ING Gazelle Index is a quarterly national survey of CEOs of the nation's fastest growing African-American-owned businesses with 10-100 employees. The ING Gazelle Index compiles the positive, negative and neutral views of African-American business owners regarding their businesses and the impact the U.S. economy is having on them. The ING Gazelle Index serves as an additional guide to companies in making informed decisions about the timing of capital investments, strategic planning and overall business development. First quarter 2003 findings indicate that Gazelle business leaders are still more negative than positive about their current and future business outlook.

"While African-American CEOs continue to have short-term concerns about the economy, it is encouraging that nearly 50 percent expect to increase employment over the next three months, while less than 10 percent expect to decrease employment," said Allan Baker, senior vice president, Brand Management, ING U.S. "These are important trends to communicate, and that is the primary objective of the ING Gazelle Index -- to provide business owners with insights from their peers that will help them make forecasts and smart decisions about the future of their companies."

Gazelle Index Components

The ING Gazelle Index is derived from averaging four responses, positive and negative, to questions about the business activity and confidence of African American business owners. The ING Gazelle Index derives those four measures by asking the following questions:

  1.  In your opinion are economic conditions better today than six months
      ago?

      *  Approximately 11 percent indicated that conditions are better today
         than six months ago, which is down from roughly 20 percent in the
         fourth quarter of 2002, and 60 percent indicated that conditions
         are not as good, which is up from 51 percent

  2.  In looking six months into the future, are you more optimistic or more
      pessimistic about the economy?

      *  Optimism about the economy six months into the future remained at a
         rating of 55, essentially unchanged from the fourth quarter of
         2002.

  3.  Is business activity in your company better today than six months ago?

      *  Out of 100, the Index measures 40.5, down from 46.9 in the fourth
         quarter of 2002.  Approximately 27 percent of the Gazelle CEOs
         indicated that their business was doing better today than six
         months ago.

  4.  As compared to six months ago, has employment in your company
      increased, decreased or remained the same?

      *  Out of 100, the Index measures 40.0, showing employment has
         decreased from 45.5 from the fourth quarter of 2002.

According to the Economic Census data, there are more than 880,000 African-American business owners in the United States, up 46 percent over a 5-year period. Majority-owned firms have grown only 24 percent during the same timeframe.

Visit www.INGGazelleIndex.com, to review the full report and click into the minds of CEOs of the nation's fastest growing African-American-owned businesses.

About ING

ING's U.S. financial services operations (www.ing.com) offers a comprehensive array of products and services, including mutual funds; fixed and variable annuities; retirement programs; financial planning; employee benefits; life insurance; and trust services through a variety of distribution channels. ING U.S. Financial Services is part of Amsterdam-based ING Groep N.V., one of the largest integrated financial services organizations in the world.

About Boston Research Group

Atlanta-based Boston Research Group (BRG), headed by Dr. Thomas Boston, conducted the survey on behalf of ING. BRG identified 1,497 African-American- owned businesses whose employment increased by a minimum of 5 percent over the last five years and whose current employment is between 10 and 100 workers. Each quarter 350 of these businesses are surveyed randomly. The survey was constructed to have a margin of error of (+) or (-) 5 percent. The survey for the first quarter ING Gazelle Index was conducted during the second week of April 2003.

Press contact: Dana E. Ripley - 770.980.3317 or 404.668.8244 (mobile)

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SOURCE: ING Americas

CONTACT: Dana E. Ripley of ING Americas, +1-770-980-3317, or mobile,
+1-404-668-8244

Web site: http://www.ing-usa.com/