How a Dutch burial fund evolved into one of the world's largest banking giants.
Tracing its roots to a 1743 burial society, ING Group transformed through centuries of mergers and aggressive international expansion. Once a sprawling bancassurance conglomerate, the institution survived a near-collapse during the 2008 financial crisis, eventually shedding its insurance arm to emerge as a focused, purely global banking powerhouse.
The origins of ING Group are rooted in the 1743 founding of the Kooger Doodenbos burial fund in North Holland. Over the next two centuries, this modest collective merged with various insurance and banking entities, including the fire insurer De Nederlanden van 1845 and the Rijkspostspaarbank, a state-run postal savings system. The modern ING Group was officially formed in 1991 following the liberalization of Dutch financial law, which allowed for the integration of banking and insurance services under a single corporate umbrella.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, ING pursued a rapid international growth strategy. It acquired major institutions like Barings Bank in 1995 for a symbolic £1 following the catastrophic losses of trader Nick Leeson, and expanded its retail footprint through the direct banking model. By 2008, the group served over 85 million customers globally and held assets exceeding €1,300 billion. However, the global financial crisis forced the company to accept a €10 billion capital injection from the Dutch government to maintain stability.
The state aid came with strict conditions imposed by the European Commission, requiring ING to divest its insurance and investment management operations to prevent market distortion. This restructuring led to the separation of the banking and insurance arms, with the latter eventually becoming Voya Financial and NN Group. By 2016, ING had sold its final shares in NN Group, completing its transition back to a pure-play bank. The company successfully repaid its total state aid of €13.5 billion by November 2014, yielding the Dutch state an average annual return of 12.7%.
Source: ING Group
