90 million. This resulted in the remeasurement of the financial liability to EUR 90 million. A stake of 23% was purchased in 2019 which reduced the outstanding financial liability. As at 31 December 2019 the ownership interest of ING Bank was 98% with an outstanding financial liability of EUR 7 million to acquire the remaining shares. Given that ING Bank already had control over Payvision, the acquisition of the shares in 2019 represents a shareholder transaction and resulted in a transfer between Non-controlling interest and Shareholders equity of EUR 24 million.
For the principal investments in associates and joint ventures ING Group has significant influence but not control. Significant influence generally results from a shareholding of between 20% and 50% of the voting rights, but also the ability to participate in the financial and operating policies through situations including, but not limited to one or more of the following: ▪ Representation on the board of directors; ▪ Participation in the policymaking process; and
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2 Reference is made to Note 8 Investments in Associates and Joint Ventures.
In addition, subsidiaries of ING in Germany, Belgium and Australia also issued covered bonds with pledged mortgages loans of approximately EUR 15.8 billion (2018: EUR 14.0 billion) in total.
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The standby liquidity facilities are reported under irrevocable facilities. All facilities, which vary in risk profile, are granted to Mont Blanc Capital Corp. subject to normal ING Group credit and liquidity risk analysis procedures. The fees received for services provided and for facilities are charged subject to market conditions.
In 2013 ING transferred financial assets (mortgage loans) for an amount of approximately EUR 2 billion to a newly established special purpose vehicle (SPV). The transaction resulted in full derecognition of the financial assets from ING’s statement of financial position. The derecognition did not have a significant impact on net result. Following this transfer ING continues to have two types of on-going involvement in the transferred assets: as counterparty to the SPV of a nonstandard interest rate swap and as servicer of the transferred assets. ING has an option to unwind the transaction by redeeming all notes at their principal outstanding amount, in the unlikely event of changes in accounting and/or regulatory requirements that significantly impact the transaction.
In the normal course of business, ING Group enters into various transactions with related parties.
Supervisory Board) are transactions with related parties. In 2019 and 2018, three members of the
4 One member left ING during the year. The table includes compensation earned in the capacity as board member.
In addition to above remuneration the members of the Executive Board and Management Board
Banking receive other emoluments, such as Company Car, Travel and Accident Insurance, personnel discount on financial products, of EUR 0.4 million in total (2018: EUR 0.3 million).
3 Following the settlement agreement and in consultation with the Supervisory Board, the CFO stepped down from his position as member of the Executive Board of ING Group on 7 February 2019. In line with applicable regulations a severance payment was granted. The Supervisory Board has set the severance pay at a level of 50% of fixed annual pay.
Total number of shares and stock options 374,301 440,097 46,198 95,707
The CET1 ratio at the end of the year improved as risk-weighted assets increased due to volume growth and model impacts, effects that were offset by profit retention and positive risk migration.
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Taking into account the interim dividend of EUR 0.24 per ordinary share paid in August 2019, the final dividend will amount to EUR 0.45 per ordinary share and will be paid fully in cash. The total amount of EUR 1,754 million is completely covered by the remaining balance of ‘interim profits not included in CET1 capital’ at year-end 2019.
Contents | Report of the Executive Board | Corporate governance | Risk Management | Consolidated financial statements | Parent company financial statements | Other information | Appendices > Authorisation of Consolidated Financial statements
Investments in group companies 1 47,109 44,358 Share capital 39 39
Receivables from group companies 2 44,242 34,902 Unappropriated result 4,601 4,543
Result from (disposal of) group companies and participating interests after taxation 11 4,870 4,631
The total amount of equity in the Parent company financial statements equals Shareholders’
As at 31 December 2019 an amount of EUR 40,917 million (2018: EUR 30,632 million) is expected to be settled after more than one year from the balance sheet date.
Changes in composition of the group and other changes 249 249
The Share of participating interests reserve includes the following components: Reserve for nondistributable retained earnings of participating interests of EUR 3,189 million (2018: EUR 2,940 million), Revaluation reserve of participating interests of EUR 1,146 million (2018: EUR 1,051 million) and Net defined benefit asset/liability remeasurement reserve of EUR –336 million (2018: EUR –394 million).
Changes in the composition of the group and other changes –298 – –298
The total amount of non-distributable reserves, in accordance with the financial reporting requirements per Part 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code, is EUR 8,398 million (2018: EUR 7,700 million).
Reference is made to Note 20 ‘Equity’ and the Capital Management section in the Consolidated financial statements for additional information, including restrictions with respect to dividend and repayment of capital.
Interest rate Year of issue Due date Notional amount in original currency 2019 20181 1. As at 31 December 2019 liabilities are presented based on their outstanding maturities. The prior period was updated to improve consistency and comparability resulting in a shift from current to non-current liabilities of EUR 296 million.
In February respectively September 2019, ING Groep N.V. issued USD 1,250 million and USD 1,500 million securities that qualify as Perpetual Additional Tier 1 Contingent Convertible Capital Securities with coupons of 6.75% until 16 April 2024 (First Call Date) and 5.75% until 16 November 2026 (First
Executive Board and the Supervisory Board is included in the Consolidated financial statements.
Addition to reserves pursuant to Article 37 (4) of the Articles of Association 2,092
Contents | Report of the Executive Board | Corporate governance | Risk Management | Consolidated financial statements | Parent company financial statements | Other information | Appendices > Authorisation of Parent Company financial statements
The parent company financial statements comprise: 1 the parent company statement of financial position as at 31 December 2019; 2 the parent company statement of profit or loss and statement of changes in equity for 2019; and 3 the notes comprising a summary of the accounting policies and other explanatory information.
— 90% of total assets covered by audit procedures performed by component auditors (2018: 90%).
We consider profit before taxation from continuing operations as the most appropriate benchmark based on our assessment of the general information needs of users of financial statements and given the fact that ING Group is a profit-oriented entity. We have also taken into account misstatements and/or possible misstatements that in our opinion are material for the users of the financial statements for qualitative reasons.
The group audit team has set component materiality levels, which ranged from EUR 25 million to EUR 115 million, based on the mix of size and financial statement risk profile of the components within the group to reduce the aggregation risk to an acceptable level.
ING Group Annual Report 2019 KPMG Accountants N.V., registered with the trade register in the Netherlands under number 33263683, is a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (‘KPMG International’), a Swiss entity. 402
In accordance with the Dutch standards on auditing, we are responsible for obtaining a high (but not absolute) level of assurance that the financial statements taken as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error.
In accordance with the auditing standard, we evaluated the fraud risk. The presumed fraud risk on the revenue recognition was not considered a significant risk to our audit. The other fraud risks that are relevant to our audit, are: — Fraud risk in relation to management override of controls (a presumed risk).
Our procedures to address fraud risks did not result in a Key Audit Matter. However, the procedures to address the significant risk described in the Key Audit Matter related to ‘Assessment of Expected Credit Losses on loans and advances to customers and banks’ also address the fraud risk in relation to management override of Expected Credit Loss provision results.
We communicated identified laws and regulations throughout our team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit. This included communication from the group to component audit teams of relevant laws and regulations identified at group level. The potential effect of these laws and regulations on the financial statements varies considerably:
ING Group Annual Report 2019 KPMG Accountants N.V., registered with the trade register in the Netherlands under number 33263683, is a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (‘KPMG International’), a Swiss entity. 403
As discussed in section ‘Credit Risk’ in the Executive Board report, and Note 7 and Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements, the loans and advances to customers and loans and advances to banks amounts are EUR 612 billion and EUR 35 billion, respectively, as at 31 December 2019. These loans and advances are measured at amortised cost, less a provision for Expected Credit Losses (‘ECL’) of EUR 4.6 billion. Considerable judgement is exercised in determining the amount of ECL for loans and advances to customers and banks assessed on both a collective and an individual basis.
We identified the assessment of ECL on loans and advances to customers and banks as a Key Audit Matter because there was a high degree of estimation uncertainty as a result of complexity of the models, inputs, assumptions and judgements in measuring the ECL. Specifically, assessment of the probability of default (‘PD’), the loss given default (‘LGD’), and the exposure at default (‘EAD’), including expected future recovery cash flows, the use of the macro-economic assumptions in the ECL, and the criteria for identifying significant increase in credit risk (‘SICR’) required significant and complex management and auditor judgement and knowledge and experience in the industry.
— We involved economic professionals with specialised skills and knowledge to assist in the assessment of the Company’s methodology in determining the macro-economic scenarios used in the ECL calculation.
Our audit approach depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of automated controls and, therefore, procedures are designed to test among others access and change management controls over IT systems. Given the IT technical characteristics of this part of the audit, IT audit specialists are an integral part of our engagement team.
ING Group Annual Report 2019 KPMG Accountants N.V., registered with the trade register in the Netherlands under number 33263683, is a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (‘KPMG International’), a Swiss entity. 405
For the period to which our statutory audit relates, in addition to this audit we have provided agreedupon procedures and assurance engagements to ING Groep N.V. or its controlled undertakings. These services were rendered for the benefit of external users, largely driven by regulatory compliance.
Responsibilities of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board for the financial statements
Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. The materiality affects the nature, timing and extent of our audit procedures and the evaluation of the effect of identified misstatements on our opinion.
ING Group Annual Report 2019 KPMG Accountants N.V., registered with the trade register in the Netherlands under number 33263683, is a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (‘KPMG International’), a Swiss entity. 406
From the matters communicated with the Supervisory Board, we determine the Key Audit Matters: those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the financial statements. We describe these matters in our auditor’s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, not communicating the matter is in the public interest.
ING’s business activities, financial condition, results and prospects. The market price of ING shares or other securities could decline due to any of those risks including the risks described below, and investors could lose all or part of their investments.
Factors such as interest rates, securities prices, credit spreads, liquidity spreads, exchange rates, consumer spending, changes in client behaviour, business investment, real estate values and private equity valuations, government spending, inflation or deflation, the volatility and strength of the capital markets, political events and trends, terrorism, pandemics and epidemics (such as
Consequently, we may be required to reinvest the proceeds into assets at lower interest rates; ▪ lower profitability as the result of a decrease in the spread between client rates earned on assets and client rates paid on savings, current account and other liabilities; ▪ higher costs for certain derivative instruments that may be used to hedge certain of our product risks; ▪ lower profitability since we may not be able to fully track the decline in interest rates in our savings rates; ▪ lower profitability since we may not always be entitled to impose surcharges to customers to compensate for the decline in interest rates; ▪ lower profitability since we may have to pay a higher premium for the defined contribution scheme in the Netherlands for which the premium paid is dependent on interest rate developments and DNB’s methodology for determining the ultimate forward rate; ▪ lower interest rates may cause asset margins to decrease thereby lowering our results. This may for example be the consequence of increased competition for investments as result of the low rates, thereby driving margins down; and/or
The foregoing impacts have been and may be further amplified in a negative interest rate environment, since we may not be able earn interest on our assets (including reserves), or may be forced to pay negative interest on our assets, while still paying a positive interest or no interest to others to hold our liabilities, resulting in an adverse impact on our credit spread and lowering of our net interest income. Furthermore, in the event that a negative interest rate environment results in
States, as well as ongoing volatility in the financial markets and the economy generally have adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect, our business, results and financial condition.
Adverse developments in the market have included, for example, decreased liquidity, increased price volatility, credit downgrade events, and increased probability of default for fixed income securities. Moreover, there is a risk that an adverse credit event at one or more European sovereign debtors (including a credit rating downgrade or a default) could trigger a broader economic downturn in Europe and elsewhere. In addition, the confluence of these and other factors has resulted in volatile foreign exchange markets. Securities that are less liquid are more difficult to value and may be hard to dispose of. International equity markets have also continued to experience heightened volatility and turmoil, with issuers, including ourselves, that have exposure to the real estate, mortgage, private equity and credit markets particularly affected. These events, market upheavals and continuing risks, including high levels of volatility, have had and may continue to have an adverse effect on our results, in part because we have a large investment portfolio.
There is also continued uncertainty over the long-term outlook for the tax, spending and borrowing policies of the US, the future economic performance of the US within the global economy and any potential future budgetary restrictions in the US, with a potential impact on a future sovereign credit ratings downgrade of the US government, including the rating of US Treasury securities. A
Although the UK is not a member state of the Eurozone, the departure of the UK from the EU
However, the regulatory impact of Brexit continues to present material risks and uncertainties, particularly as to how regulations may diverge between the EU and the UK, which could materially increase ING’s compliance costs and have a material adverse effect on ING’s business, results and financial condition.
benchmark was reformed, making it dependant to the €STR benchmark. The reformed EONIA
benchmark will cease to exist by 1 January 2022 and therefore the European Money Markets
Secured Overnight Financing Rate (commonly referred to as ‘SOFR’) as an alternative to US dollar
ING pays quarterly risk-weighted contributions into a DGS-fund. The DGS-fund is to grow to a target size of 0.8% of all deposits guaranteed under the DGS, which is expected to be reached in
Since 2015, the EU has been discussing the introduction of a pan-European deposit guarantee scheme (‘EDIS’), (partly) replacing or complementing national compensation schemes in two or three phases. Proposals contain elements of (re)insurance, mutual lending and mutualisation of funds. The new model is intended to be ‘overall cost-neutral’. Discussions have continued in 2019, but it remains uncertain when EDIS will be introduced and, if introduced, what impact EDIS would have on ING’s business and operations.
There are a number of risks in areas where applicable regulations may be unclear, subject to multiple interpretations or under development, or where regulations may conflict with one another, or where regulators revise their previous guidance or courts overturn previous rulings, which could result in our failure to meet applicable standards. Regulators and other authorities have the power to bring administrative or judicial proceedings against us, which could result, among other things, in suspension or revocation of our licenses, cease and desist orders, fines, civil penalties, criminal
(own funds) and additional loss absorbing capacity, as well as for liquidity, and to comply with leverage restrictions. These are developed or enacted by various organisations such as the Basel
Requirements Directive (‘CRD’) and Capital Requirements Regulation (‘CRR’), and the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, all as amended from time to time and as implemented in national law where required.
Common Equity Tier 1 ratio or CET1 ratio, which is the ratio of common equity tier 1 capital to the total risk exposure amount (‘TREA’, often referred to as risk-weighted assets or ‘RWA’). In addition to the capital requirements, we must maintain at all times a sufficient aggregate amount of own funds and ‘eligible liabilities’ (that is, liabilities that may be bailed in using the bail-in tool), known as the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (‘MREL’).
(‘CFTC’) as a swap dealer and intends to register with the SEC as a securities-based swap dealer. The
Act’ (Wet bijzondere maatregelen financiële ondernemingen. as implemented in the Dutch
The powers granted to authorities include, among others, a statutory ‘write-down and conversion power’ and a ‘bail-in’ power, which gives the resolution authority the power to, as a resolution action or when the resolution authority determines that otherwise we would no longer be viable, inter alia, (i) reduce or cancel existing shares, (ii) convert relevant capital instruments or eligible liabilities or bail-inable liabilities into shares or other instruments of ownership of the relevant entity and/or (iii) write down relevant capital instruments or eligible liabilities or reduce or cancel the principal amount of, or interest on, certain unsecured liabilities (which could include certain securities that have been or will be issued by us), whether in whole or in part and whether or not on a permanent basis.
Some claims and allegations may be brought by or on behalf of a class and claimants may seek large or indeterminate amounts of damages, including compensatory, liquidated, treble and punitive damages. Our reserves for litigation liabilities may prove to be inadequate. Claims and allegations, should they become public, need not be well founded, true or successful to have a negative impact on our reputation. In addition, press reports and other public statements that assert some form of wrongdoing could result in inquiries or investigations by regulators, legislators and law enforcement officials, and responding to these inquiries and investigations, regardless of their ultimate outcome, is time consuming and expensive. Adverse publicity, claims and allegations, litigation and regulatory investigations and sanctions may have a material adverse effect on our business, results, financial condition and/or prospects in any given period.
Under provisions of other US tax law concerning withholding tax, non-US financial institutions acting as intermediaries are required to withhold tax on US-source payments to payees and remit the tax to the IRS. Every three years, certain ING branches and subsidiaries are required to certify their compliance with such Qualified Intermediary (‘QI’) requirements to the IRS. If the IRS
determines that any such branches and/or subsidiaries are not in compliance with the QI
Products distributed through person-to-person sales forces have a higher exposure to such claims as the sales forces provide face-to-face financial planning and advisory services. Complaints may also arise if customers feel that they have not been treated reasonably or fairly, or that the duty of care has not been complied with. While a considerable amount of time and resources have been invested in reviewing and assessing historical sales practices and products that were sold in the past, and in the maintenance of risk management, legal and compliance procedures to monitor current sales practices, there can be no assurance that all of the issues associated with current and historical sales practices have been or will be identified, nor that any issues already identified will not be more widespread than presently estimated.
Services Directive (‘PSD2’). Failure to appropriately manage and monitor our IT risk profile could affect our ability to comply with these regulatory requirements, to securely and efficiently serve our clients or to timely, completely or accurately process, store and transmit information, and may adversely impact our reputation, business and results. For further description of the particular risks associated with cybercrime, see ‘–We are subject to increasing risks related to cybercrime and compliance with cybersecurity regulation’ below.
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, reduced regulatory burden and/or faster processes in order to challenge traditional banks. Developments in technology has also accelerated the use of new business models, and ING may not be successful in adapting to this pace of change or may incur significant costs in adapting its business and operations to meet such changes. For example, new business models have been observed in retail
In the conduct of our business, we rely on a combination of contractual rights with third parties and copyright, trademark, trade name, patent and trade secret laws to establish and protect our intellectual property, which we develop in connection with our products and services. Third parties may infringe or misappropriate our intellectual property. We may have to litigate to enforce and protect our copyrights, trademarks, trade names, patents, trade secrets and know-how or to determine their scope, validity or enforceability. In that event, we may be required to incur significant costs, and our efforts may not prove successful. The inability to secure or protect our intellectual property assets could have an adverse effect on our core business and our ability to compete, including through the monetization of our internal innovations.
Any of these scenarios could have a material adverse effect on our business and results and could restrict our ability to pursue future business opportunities.
Third parties that owe us money, securities or other assets may not pay or perform under their obligations. These parties include the issuers and guarantors (including sovereigns) of securities we hold, borrowers under loans originated, reinsurers, customers, trading counterparties, securities lending and repurchase counterparties, counterparties under swaps, credit default and other derivative contracts, clearing agents, exchanges, clearing houses and other financial intermediaries. Defaults by one or more of these parties on their obligations to us due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, downturns in the economy or real estate values, continuing low oil or other commodity prices, operational failure or other factors, or even rumours about potential defaults by one or more of these parties or regarding a severe distress of the financial services industry generally, could have a material adverse effect on our results, financial condition and
ING Group relies to a considerable extent on the quality of its senior management, such as members of the executive committee, and management in the jurisdictions which are material to
Contents | Report of the Executive Board | Corporate governance | Risk Management | Consolidated financial statements | Parent company financial statements | Other information | Appendices > Risk factors
(financial and/or non-financial) that are not subject to such restrictions and it could adversely affect
We employ various economic hedging strategies with the objective of mitigating the market risks that are inherent in our business and operations. These risks include currency fluctuations, changes in the fair value of our investments, the impact of interest rates, equity markets and credit spread changes, the occurrence of credit defaults and changes in client behaviour. We seek to control these risks by, among other things, entering into a number of derivative instruments, such as swaps, options, futures and forward contracts, including, from time to time, macro hedges for parts of our business, either directly as a counterparty or as a credit support provider to affiliate counterparties. Developing an effective strategy for dealing with these risks is complex, and no strategy can completely insulate us from risks associated with those fluctuations. Our hedging strategies also rely on assumptions and projections regarding our assets, liabilities, general market factors and the creditworthiness of our counterparties that may prove to be incorrect or prove to be inadequate. Accordingly, our hedging activities may not have the desired beneficial impact on our results or financial condition. Poorly designed strategies or improperly executed transactions could actually increase our risks and losses. Hedging strategies involve transaction costs and other costs, and if we terminate a hedging arrangement, we may also be required to pay additional costs, such as transaction fees or breakage costs. There have been periods in the past, and it is likely that there will be periods in the future, during which we have incurred or may incur losses on transactions, possibly significant, after taking into account our hedging strategies. Further, the nature and timing of our hedging transactions could actually increase our risk and losses. Hedging instruments we use to manage product and other risks might not perform as intended or expected, which could result in higher (un)realised losses, such as credit value adjustment risks or unexpected
We depend on the capital and credit markets, as well as customer deposits, to provide the liquidity and capital required to fund our operations, and adverse conditions in the capital and credit markets, or significant withdrawals of customer deposits, may impact our liquidity, borrowing and capital positions, as well as the cost of liquidity, borrowings and capital.
Disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the capital and credit markets may also limit our access to capital. Such market conditions may in the future limit our ability to raise additional capital to support business growth, or to counterbalance the consequences of losses or increased regulatory capital and rating agency capital requirements. This could force us to (i) delay raising capital, (ii)
Concerns about protecting clients and creditors of financial institutions that are controlled by persons or entities located outside of the country in which such entities are located or do business have caused or may cause a number of governments and regulators to take additional steps to
Most of our Supervisory Board members, our Executive Board members and some of the experts named in this Annual Report, as well as many of our officers are persons who are not residents of the United States, and most of our and their assets are located outside the United States. As a result, investors may not be able to serve process on those persons within the United States or to enforce in the United States judgments obtained in US courts against us or those persons based on the civil liability provisions of the US securities laws.
Netherlands do not currently have a treaty providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments (other than arbitration awards) in civil and commercial matters.
In addition, there is doubt as to whether a Dutch court would impose civil liability on us, the members of our board of directors, our officers or certain experts named herein in an original action predicated solely upon the U.S. federal securities laws brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the Netherlands against us or such members, officers or experts, respectively.
Banking member Isabel Fernandez. Specific responsibilities are delegated, via the Global
Sustainability department, to business units and subject-matter experts who help develop
The programme ensures that the targets are integrated within the relevant business functions, and if necessary, translated to policy. For more information, please go to Environmental Programme.
ING contributes to the overview legal entities economies of over 40 countries where we operate.
ING and more than 30 other banks then took that a step further with the Collective Commitment to
Climate Action. This is the banking sector’s farthest-reaching commitment to align with the Paris
principles and GRI Standards and covered by reasonable assurance; - ING has identified sensitive issues and activities across our portfolio – see Our Stance; - ING implemented sector sustainability policies.
1.2 Describe how the bank has aligned and/or is planning to align its strategy to be consistent with and contribute to society's goals, as expressed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the
▪ Sustainability Direction (strategy); ▪ ING’s approach to climate action. The centrepiece of ING’s climate action approach is Terra; ▪ ING’s approach to financial health; ▪ Contributions to the SDGs; ▪ Outline of our policies and position statements with regard to activities and sectors with potential negative impacts is available on Our Stance pages; ▪ ING’s Environmental and Social Risk (ESR) policy framework; ▪ ING’s 2018 Human Rights Report and Human Rights
financial health. We obtain reasonable assurance on our measure of customers’ feeling of financial empowerment.
▪ ING proactively engages Wholesale Banking clients in sectors with material impacts on the environment and society. An overview of sensitive sectors and activities is available in our ESR framework and on Our Stance. For example, in the palm oil sector we engage clients on their
Principle 5: Governance & Culture 5.1 Describe the relevant governance structures, policies and procedures the bank has in place/is planning to put in place to manage significant positive and negative (potential) impacts and support effective implementation of the Principles.
5.2 Describe the initiatives and measures the bank has implemented or is planning to implement to foster a culture of responsible banking among its employees. This should include a high-level overview of capacity building, inclusion in remuneration structures and performance management and leadership communication, amongst others.
ING has signed the Collective Commitment to Climate Action whose implementation is governed using the same governance structure.
framework; ▪ In 2019, a total of 25.9 million retail customers felt financially empowered after interactions with ING, up from 25 million a year earlier.
number of employees Male Female Unknown Total number of employees Male Female Unknown Total
We measure and manage the impact of our operations though our environmental programme. The environmental impact of our operations mainly consists of energy use in buildings and IT systems, business travel, waste and water.
In 2015 we announced global targets for reducing our operational footprint. To underpin our programme and global targets, we have successfully developed our Environmental Management
▪ We’ll reduce global residual waste by 20 percent by 2020 (base year 2014).
▪ We’ll ill reduce our water footprint by 20 percent by 2020 (base year 2014).
3 Scope 2 comprises emissions from our use of electricity, renewable electricity and district heating.
[from TAP] is needed for the phasing out of coal, as well as to back up intermittent renewables.
In April 2019, NGO Amazon Watch released the report Complicity in Destruction II, focusing on the impacts of deforestation on the world’s largest rainforest and the Indigenous peoples living there.
In April 2019, the Dutch National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises published its final statement, ending nearly two years of mediation in an NGO
In November 2019, NGO Banktrack published its Human Rights Benchmark 2019, the third edition of the benchmark. It evaluates 50 of the largest private sector commercial banks globally against a set of 14 criteria based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). ING’s final score is 7 out of 14, up 1.5 points from the previous benchmark, putting the bank in the ''Front runners'' group of banks.
In November 2019, BankTrack forwarded a letter from NGO 350.org requesting that ING take action in response to ongoing investigations into alleged bribery by an employee of Hyundai Engineering and Construction in Indonesia. Media reports cited in the letter allege that an Indonesian public official accepted bribes to help settle local community protests in the Cirebon II coal power plant, whose construction is being financed by a banking consortium including ING.
Contents | Report of the Executive Board | Corporate governance | Risk Management | Consolidated financial statements | Parent company financial statements | Other information | Appendices > Non-GAAP measures
In 2019, there are no items excluded from the GAAP measures.
Under the terms of the settlement, ING paid a fine of EUR 675 million and EUR 100 million for disgorgement. ING did not claim a tax deduction in connection with these payments.
This Annual Report contains the Reports of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board as well as the Financial statements and other information for the financial year 2019 in their original language (English).
Disclaimer Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to a number of factors, including, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular economic conditions in ING’s core markets
(2) changes affecting interest rate levels, (3) changes in performance of financial markets, including developing markets, (4) changes in the fiscal position and the future economic performance of the
(26) ING’s ability to achieve its strategy, including projected operational synergies and change programmes, and (27) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V. (including the Risk Factors contained therein) and ING’s more recent disclosures, including press releases, which are available on www.ING.com, (28) this annual report contains inactive textual addresses to internet websites operated by us and third parties. Reference to such websites is made for information purposes only, and information found at such websites is not incorporated by reference into this annual report. ING does not make any representation or warranty with respect to the accuracy or completeness of, or take any responsibility for, any information found at any websites operated by third parties. ING specifically disclaims any liability with respect to any information found at websites operated by third parties. ING cannot guarantee that websites operated by third parties remain available following the filing of this annual report or that any information found at such websites will not change following the filing of this annual report. Many of those factors are beyond ING’s control.