ING SETS UP CLAIMS HOTLINE IN MEXICO AS JUDGE FREEZES ACCOUNTS

ING Comercial America, the Mexican unit of ING of the Netherlands, has established an emergency claims hotline following a local judge’s move to freeze the company’s local bank accounts and issue arrest warrants for 13 current and former ING employees. The state court handed down the orders late last week in the latest episode of a heated dispute between the ING subsidiary and local fertiliser company Grupo Fertinal. Fertinal filed a fraud lawsuit against ING following the insurer’s refusal to pay $300m in damages that the Mexican group’s Rofomex allegedly suffered from hurricane Juliette in Baja California Sur two years ago. ING assessed damages at the plant at $13m. Yves Brouillette, head of ING’s Latin American operations, said that the dispute could set a “dangerous precedent” for the continued operation of Mexico’s financial system. Dailah Nihot, a spokeswoman for ING, said that the group was “highly astonished by these legal procedures”. ING took control of Comercial America two years ago after entering the Mexican market during the 1990s. It now controls nearly a quarter of the local market.