ING CONFIRMS CHINESE AMBITIONS WITH POSTAL BANK

Netherlands-based financial services group ING has confirmed that it would like to partner China Postal Savings Bank in order to expand ING’s distribution capabilities on the mainland. When questioned about remarks made in Hong Kong by ING Asia-Pacific Insurance chairman Hans van der Noordaa, ING executive Karen Williams said that ING dreamed of teaming up with the bank, which was established earlier this year to create another commercial provider of financial services for the 800m land workers in China. Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday that ING was negotiating an investment in the Chinese bank, which said in March that eventually it would seek foreign strategic investors and sell public shares to raise capital. More than two-thirds of the Postal Savings Bank’s branches are in rural areas. At the beginning of this year, 270m Chinese had deposit accounts with the postal service.