ING Gets $13.3 billion Capital Boost From Dutch Government

ING, the Dutch banking and insurance giant has agreed to a EUR10 billion ($13.3 billion) investment by the Dutch government to boost Core Tier 1 capital to over 8%. The bank will also scrap its final dividend for 2008.

"We’re coming out of this much stronger as a financial institution," ING CEO Michael Tilmant says in a video interview. "Our clients will feel that they trusted us a lot in the last few years and they have trusted just as much in the last few weeks; we haven’t seen any outflow of balances to speak of."

Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos says the Government wanted to give ING "extra buffers" to withstand the current market conditions. "We have a healthy company that’s being trusted by its customers," he said.

The video interview with Michel Tilmant plus an excerpt from the press conference are available now at http://www.cantos.com/ing_group