ING sells Taiwanese insurance business to Fubon

by Gill Montia

Story link: ING sells Taiwanese insurance business to Fubon

Dutch bank, ING, is selling its Taiwanese life insurance business to Fubon Financial Holdings, for around €447 million (£344 million).

News of the disposal came hours after ING announced that it had agreed a €10 billion injection of cash from the Dutch Government.

Fubon, which describes itself as the most comprehensive financial service group in Taiwan, is paying for the business in shares and subordinated debt securities and the transaction will leave ING with a 5% stake in the enlarged group.

ING says it remains committed to the Taiwanese market, where it operates, real estate, funds management and corporate and investment banking subsidiaries.

The sale should close during the first quarter of 2009 and will result in a €427 million post-tax book loss for ING, which set up its life insurance operations in Taiwan in 1987.

Meanwhile, in Europe ING has become the first Dutch financial group to benefit from a €20 billion fund that will allow the Netherlands’s Government to buy into ailing financial firms.

Prior to the injection of cash, ING’s tier one ratio stood at around 6.5%.