Recruitment Strong at Broker-Dealers of ING

Recruiting across the broker-dealers of ING, which include Financial Network, ING Financial Partners, Multi-Financial and PrimeVest, remains strong through the first half of 2009. Through June 2009, ING's network of broker-dealers reported that recruited GDC has already surpassed its benchmark and is on pace to exceed its annual goal, despite the ongoing market turbulence and ING's publicly stated strategic review of its broker-dealer businesses. This inflow of GDC and talent has come from a variety of channels including wirehouses, financial institutions, and other independent broker-dealers.

"These broker-dealers have built themselves into industry leaders and their commitment to providing affiliated representatives and institutions with flexibility in affiliation models and the best service and technology is unwavering," said Valerie Brown, chief executive officer of ING Advisors Network. "Financial professionals can see the evidence of this commitment, including our dedication to providing clearing platform choice for financial institutions and ongoing investment in our advisor workstation, ING SmartWorks . Our recruiting results, thus far, are a strong indication of their considerable confidence in our broker-dealers."

Supporting two clearing platforms, Pershing LLC for Financial Network, ING Financial Partners and Multi-Financial, and a self-clearing platform for financial institutions affiliated with PrimeVest, the broker-dealers of ING have become a choice destination for financial professionals and financial institutions seeking access to extensive scale-driven resources.

"It's been a very good year so far and the indications are that it will continue to be strong on the recruiting front in the foreseeable future," said Catherine Bonneau, president and chief executive officer of PrimeVest, ING's independent broker-dealer exclusively serving the financial institution marketplace. "There's a steady flow of financial professionals and institutions that are looking to make a change and, in PrimeVest, they are finding a great fit in terms of technology, service, innovative solutions and operational support."

Denver-based Multi-Financial has also built momentum through June.

"We've had a very successful first half on the recruiting front," said Patrick McEvoy, president and chief executive officer of Multi-Financial. "And our prospect pipeline is a bright spot, as well. The strength of our service model, built around a commitment to one-on-one relationships, is evident in what we're hearing from recently signed recruits, and it's made their transitioning of business easier. Our open architecture approach and the flexibility we offer has also been a strong differentiator for us."

The first-half results indicate, in part, that financial professionals are drawn to the choice of cultures and affiliation options available through the broker-dealers of ING.

"Regardless of how financial professionals want to build their business, we have a broker-dealer that will meet their needs," said Brown. "Distinct front office models and culture, supported by highly competitive back-office operations, give reps the ability to maintain their independence while enjoying the many scale-driven benefits our structure offers."

ING Profile

ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services to over 85 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 40 countries. With a diverse workforce of about 115,000 people, ING is dedicated to setting the standard in helping our clients manage their financial future.

Certain of the statements contained herein are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements. These expectations are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, among other things, (i) general economic conditions, in particular economic conditions in ING's core markets, (ii) performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, (iii) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) interest rate levels, (vii) currency exchange rates (viii) general competitive factors, (ix) changes in laws and regulations, (x) changes in the policies of governments and/or regulatory authorities. ING assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this document.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: dana.ripley@us.ing.com

SOURCE: ING Americas

CONTACT: Dana E. Ripley of ING Insurance Americas, +1-770-980-4865,
dana.ripley@us.ing.com

Web Site: http://www.ing.com/us