ING Investment Management Transforms Securities and Payments Processing on Microsoft Technology

Microsoft BizTalk Server to help reduce risk and time for securities workflow between ING and its settlement counterparty.

VIENNA, Austria — Microsoft Corp. announced today at Sibos 2008 that ING Investment Management has chosen Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 to enable SWIFT connectivity into The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNYM), the settlement counterparty appointed by ING for back-office operations. Having completed the proof of concept, the project is due to go live by the end of 2008 and will enable a timely transfer of settlement instructions and receipt and reconciliation of messages from BNYM. Coupled with a reduction in the number of parties involved in the transaction, these methods are expected to transform ING Investment Management’s securities and payments processing to provide a significant, highly efficient message processing structure.

Using Microsoft BizTalk Server including BizTalk Accelerator for SWIFT, ING will gain the ability to exchange the complete set of ISO 15022 securities and payments messages directly from their internal applications to increase straight-through processing (STP), support compliance needs and reduce risk.

“We were looking for a solution where we could maintain our existing ING architecture, and one that was cost effective, easy to implement and offering more control and visibility of our business processes,” said Thomas Schreier, senior vice president, Information Technology, ING Investment Management. “Microsoft’s BizTalk Accelerator for SWIFT achieves all of this without adding complexity or causing disruption to our existing business operations. Microsoft’s solution provides us with the required interoperability, reliability and flexibility for rapidly creating and deploying SWIFT-based financial messaging solutions as well as meeting our customers’ needs more efficiently and effectively.”

In addition, by using Microsoft BizTalk Server, ING will be able to efficiently transmit information to and from a newly established, centralized data storage system. This system will allow the firm to handle the expected increase of transactions that the business will face in the future as part of its expansion plans.

“The investment management industry is changing at a rapid pace,” said Dayle Scher, research director, Investment Management, TowerGroup. “Asset managers need to support increasing volumes and support new securities and portfolio strategies. By outsourcing back-office operations, some of the pressure placed on the operations area can be relieved, allowing the firm to focus on its core activities of investing and providing value to its customers.”

“Having a global company like ING implement BizTalk Server as its financial messaging platform for the future demonstrates Microsoft’s position as a respected leader in the provision of cost-effective, mission-critical, enterprisewide technologies,” said Sheida Hadji-Ashrafi, worldwide industry manager, Payments, at Microsoft. “Although primarily driven to save on operations and technology costs, successful outsourcing still demands flexible yet agile integration to existing business processes. BizTalk Server including the BizTalk Adapter for WebSqhere MQ will serve as a bridge between ING’s Microsoft-based platform and its counterparty’s infrastructure, enabling the firm to use a full range of options for business process integration. We will continue working with ING to further streamline its business and help the firm with its architectural, design and operational reviews going forward.”

About Microsoft in Financial Services

Microsoft’s Financial Services Group helps financial firms leverage technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business success. We help our customers in banking, capital markets and securities, and insurance achieve four business outcomes: develop relationships, drive innovation, improve operations and build connections. To do this, we focus our products and technologies, and our work with leading solutions, services and hardware partners, on key areas where we believe we and our partners can deliver exceptional value. Those areas include advisor platforms, channel renewal, core banking, insurance value chain, investment management, risk management and compliance, and payments. For more information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/financialservices.

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