ING announced today that it has reached an agreement to sell its investment management activities in the Philippines to The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the largest bank in the country in terms of market capitalization and second largest in asset management and trust with total assets under management (“AUM”) of P458 billion as of September 30, 2010.

As previously announced, ING Group has decided to separate its banking and insurance/investment management businesses and divest the latter before the end of 2013. This was part of the agreement with the European Commission in October 2009.

In the Philippines, trust and investment management businesses must operate under a trust license. ING’s Investment management activities are currently conducted through the Trust Department of ING Bank Manila, which holds a trust license.

As a consequence, ING can no longer conduct investment management activities in the Philippines through ING Bank Manila. Therefore ING has decided to divest the investment management activities in the Philippines to another licensed bank, where ING believes the strong team will continue to prosper.

ING’s investment management business in the Philippines has P78.4 billion in assets under management of as of 30 September 2010.

ING will continue to be active in the Philippines through ING Bank, a commercial bank which is celebrating its 20th year anniversary in the Philippines this year. ING Bank will continue to focus on its strong franchise in financial markets, lending and syndications, structured finance and corporate finance.  ING Bank was recently awarded by Euromoney as the Best Investment Bank 2010, the same award it got in 2009. It was also awarded the Best Mergers and Acquisition House for 2010 by the Asset.

ING Investment Management continues to have a strong footprint in Asia, with a presence in 10 countries, including the major economies of China, Korea and Taiwan.