The roots of ING can be traced to the insurers De Nationale Levensverzekering Bank and De Nederlanden van 1845 and to the public bank services such as De Rijkspostspaarbank and De Postcheque- and Girodienst, as well as to the Nederlandsche Middenstands Bank. These are the legal predecessons of the founding fathers of ING; Nationale-Nederlanden and NMB Postbank Group.
The oldest legal predecessor is the Kooger Doodenbos from Koog, Noord Holland, founded in 1743. During that period many regional funds were created to insure people from certain communities, professions, widows and orphans against bad fortune. Many of these small organisations were taken over by larger nationwide operating companies such as De Nationale Levensverzekering Bank. The fire insurers were the first to undertake international activities, starting in the Dutch Indies, but later also in the rest of Asia and in America. This created the foundation for the international company ING is today.
The pillarisation of Dutch society that separated Protestants, Catholics and Socialist/Liberals is also visible in the ING history. Banks with a Catholic or Protestant signature merged into the NMB and became part of ING. Professional groups also united in the banking business. Organisations such as the Credietbank for Koffiehuis en Restauranthouders (pubs and restaturants), the Bank voor den Diamantenhandel (diamond trade) and the Vakbondsspaarbank (Union Savings Bank) were involved in several mergers and acquisitions and finally became part of ING Bank and therefore part of the ING family.
The founding of ING as one company was started in 1990 when the legal restrictions on mergers between insurers and banks were lifted in the Netherlands. This prompted insurance company Nationale-Nederlanden and banking company NMB Postbank Groep to enter into negotiations. The merger into Internationale Nederlanden Group took place in 1991. The market soon abbreviated the name to I-N-G. The company followed suit by changing the statutory name to ING Groep N.V. Since 1991, ING has developed from a Dutch company with some international business to a multinational with Dutch roots. This was achieved through a mixture of organic growth, such as the creation of ING Direct from scratch, as well as various large acquisitions. © 2007 ING