ING posts underlying net profit of EUR 748 million in 2009

* ING returns to profi t in 2009: full-year underlying net result EUR 748 million vs. EUR -304 million in 2008

* Negative market impacts of EUR 4,742 million, down from EUR 6,674 million in 2008
* The full-year 2009 net result was EUR -935 million, or EUR -0.44 per share, including divestments and special items

* 4Q09 underlying net profi t of EUR 74 million, vs. a loss of EUR 3,093 million in 4Q08

* Negative market impacts decrease sharply to EUR 992 million vs. peak of EUR 5,045 million in 4Q08
* Result excluding market impacts, risk costs and variable annuity assumption changes was EUR 2,106 million, up 65% from 4Q08
* Special items includes EUR -930 million related to an accrual of additional future payments to the Dutch State for the Alt-A facility
* Divestments and special items brought 4Q09 net result to EUR -712 million or EUR -0.33 per share

* Bank posts 4Q underlying profi t before tax of EUR 132 million vs. loss of EUR 1,841 million in 4Q08

* Negative market impacts decrease to EUR 992 million from EUR 2,262 million in 4Q08
* Loan loss provisions increase to EUR 686 million in fourth quarter from EUR 576 million a year earlier
* Result excluding market impacts and risk costs up sharply to EUR 1,810 million from EUR 998 million in 4Q08

* Insurance posts 4Q underlying loss before tax of EUR 47 million vs. EUR 2,502 million loss in 4Q08

* Market impacts netted to nil compared with EUR -2,783 million in 4Q08
* Lapse assumption changes in US and Japanese variable annuity books lead to EUR 343 million charge in 4Q09
* Excluding market impacts and variable annuity assumption changes, results increase to EUR 296 million from EUR 281 million

* First phase of Back to Basics programme completed with all targets exceeded and risks reduced

* Operating expenses cut by EUR 1.5 billion in 2009 on a comparable basis
* Balance sheet of ING Bank reduced by 18%, or EUR 194 billion, vs. September 2008

* Shareholders’ equity increases by EUR 7.3 billion to EUR 33.9 billion, or EUR 8.95 per share, in 4Q09

* Successful EUR 7.5 billion rights issue enabled ING to repay half of Dutch State capital support
* Bank’s core Tier 1 ratio improves to 7.8%; debt/equity ratio for Group and Insurance reduced to 12.4% and 9.7%, respectively
* ING will not pay a dividend over 2009

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

“2009 was a tumultuous year for financial markets, and for ING,” said Jan Hommen, CEO of ING Group. “Yet even in this challenging environment, we made great strides to improve our operating performance, cut expenses and return to profi t on an underlying basis.”

“Although asset impairments and revaluations continued to have a substantial impact on ING’s results, market conditions improved gradually through the course of 2009, and the negative impact of market volatility was substantially lower in the fourth quarter than a year ago. Loan loss provisions at the Bank increased from a year earlier, but were roughly in line with the fi rst three quarters of the year. Excluding those impacts, the Bank showed a strong commercial performance, supported by improved interest margins, higher results from Financial Markets and cost reduction. Insurance results were impacted by assumption changes in the variable annuity books in the US and Japan as fewer customers surrendered their policies, while investment margins remained under pressure following derisking measures taken earlier in the year. The net loss in the quarter reflects an accrual of additional future payments to the Dutch State for the Alt-A facility as part of the agreement with the European Commission which we announced in October.”

“We have made structural improvements in our operating performance, while reducing risks and leverage on our balance sheet. The first phase of our Back to Basics programme, which we launched at the beginning of last year, has been successfully completed with all targets exceeded. We reduced our operating expenses by EUR 1.5 billion on a comparable basis, surpassing the original cost reduction target by 50%. The balance sheet of the Bank was reduced by 18% from September 2008, or by EUR 194 billion, exceeding the 10% target. In one year, Back to Basics has helped make ING a more efficient and less leveraged institution with a lower risk profile, and that’s an achievement our management can be proud of. In the fourth quarter we were also able to raise equity to repay half of the capital support received from the Dutch State and further strengthen our capital position, marking an important milestone on our road to recovery.”

“The Back to Basics programme culminated in the decision to separate our banking and insurance activities as part of the restructuring plan agreed with the European Commission. While we are now appealing the proportionality of this agreement in the context of a level playing field in Europe, we will move ahead with the separation, which we believe is the right strategy to position both businesses as we emerge from the financial crisis.”

“2010 will be a year of transition, and it will not be without challenges, as we work towards the operational separation of the banking and insurance businesses. We will approach this process with the utmost care and diligence to ensure an orderly and equitable separation. At the same time we will continue to work to improve the performance of both parts of the business for our shareholders and our customers, by rationalising our product offering, simplifying our processes and investing in further improvements in customer service. Through this process we will create strong and independent companies that can go forward to forge their own futures.”

Analyst Conference Calls, 17 February 2010, 9:00 CET

+31 20 794 8500 (NL)
+44 208 515 2378 (UK)
+1 480 629 9724 (US)

Presentation available with audiocast at www.ing.com

ING Group’s Annual Accounts are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (‘IFRS-EU’).

In preparing the financial information in this document, the same accounting principles are applied as in the 2008 ING Group Annual Accounts. The financial statements for 2009 are in progress and may be subject to adjustments from subsequent events. All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible in the tables due to rounding.

Certain of the statements contained herein are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements. These expectations are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, among other things, (i) general economic conditions, in particular economic conditions in ING’s core markets, (ii) performance of financial markets, including developing markets, (iii) the implementation of ING’s restructuring plan to separate banking and insurance operations, (iv) changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, sources of liquidity, such as interbank funding, as well as conditions in the credit markets generally, including changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness, (v) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, (vi) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (vii) persistency levels, (viii) interest rate levels, (ix) currency exchange rates, (x) general competitive factors, (xi) changes in laws and regulations, (xii) changes in the policies of governments and/or regulatory authorities, (xiii) conclusions with regard to purchase accounting assumptions and methodologies, (xiv) changes in ownership that could affect the future availability to us of net operating loss, net capital loss and built-in loss carryforwards, and (xv) ING’s ability to achieve projected operational synergies. ING assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this document.