ING seeks US purchase

Cees Maas, chief financial officer of Dutch insurer ING Group, has reiterated his company’s desire to acquire a US insurer as it drives to become one of the top 10 players in the US market. However, following its failure to acquire French bank CCF, he said ING was not looking to make any alternative French acquisition. ING’s 1999 net profit rose more than 84% to €4.922mn (US$4.710mn).