Company: INGVF
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001628280-25-010764
Chunk: 27

Company: ING GROEP NV
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 3
Chunk 27
---
 counterparties. These events can potentially result in financial loss and harm to our reputation, hinder our operational effectiveness, result in regulatory censure, compensation costs or fines resulting from regulatory investigations and could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, revenues, results, financial condition and prospects. Even when we are successful in defending against cyber attacks, such defence may consume significant resources or impose significant additional costs on ING.
Over 95 percent of our customers now interact with us via digital channels only. This increased reliance on digital banking and remote working may increase the risk of cybersecurity breaches, loss of personal data and related reputational risk. If any of these risks were to materialise that may adversely affect our business, results and financial condition.
Because we operate in highly competitive markets, including our home market, we may not be able to increase or maintain our market share, which may have an adverse effect on our results.
There is substantial competition in the Netherlands and the other countries in which we do business for the types of wholesale banking, retail banking, investment banking and other products and services we provide. Customer loyalty and retention can be influenced by several factors, including brand recognition, reputation, relative service levels, the prices and attributes of products and services, scope of distribution, credit ratings and actions taken by existing or new competitors (including non-bank or financial technology competitors). A decline in our competitive position as to one or more of these factors could adversely impact our ability to maintain or further increase our market share, which would adversely affect our results. Such competition is most pronounced in our more mature markets of the Netherlands, Belgium, the rest of Western Europe and Australia. In recent years, however, competition in emerging markets, such as Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, has also increased as large financial services companies from more developed countries have sought to establish themselves in markets which are perceived to offer higher growth potential, and as local institutions have become more sophisticated and competitive and proceeded to form alliances, mergers or strategic relationships with some of our competitors. The Netherlands is our largest market. Our main competitors in the banking sector in the Netherlands are ABN AMRO Bank and Rabobank.
Competition could also increase due to new entrants (including non-bank and financial technology competitors) in the markets that may have new operating models that are not burdened by potentially costly legacy operations and that are subject to reduced regulation. New entrants may rely on new technologies, advanced data and analytic tools, lower cost to serve, less extensive oversight from regulators 

compared to