ING Capital Life Formally Begins Shandong Operations

ING Capital Life Formally Begins Shandong Operations

September 08, 2006

    JINAN, China, Sept. 8 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- ING
Capital Life Insurance Company Limited (ING Capital Life),
ING Groep N.V.'s insurance joint venture with Beijing
Capital Group, announced today that it had officially
opened the doors of its Shandong Branch for business.

    The Shandong Branch will initially offer a mix of
traditional life, annuities and medical policies to the
citizens of Jinan.  These products will be sold via
tied-agents and insurance brokers, while the company is
actively developing its bancassurance sales channel.  ING
Capital Life Shandong Branch plans to expand its product
range to include universal life, group insurance and
accident insurance products and open additional sales
offices throughout the province once operations in the
capital are established.

    ING Capital Life Shandong Branch is also the first life
insurance operation in China to introduce an ING global best
practice sales model that is increasingly used in other ING
business units.  The model emphasizes the provision of
quality life insurance and wealth management services to
customers by well-trained, high quality and professional
sales agents.  These agents are chosen from a pool of
highly-qualified individuals who display excellent
management skills and who understand that the provision of
insurance needs to be backed by tailored information and
advice to each customer.

    Jacques Kemp, Chief Executive Officer of ING Insurance
Asia/Pacific stated, "Our strategy in China is to seek
sustainable, profitable growth by being the preferred
provider of life and savings products and by setting the
standard to meet our customers' financial needs.  Shandong
is one of China's biggest coastal provinces in the east
with good business environment and great potential for
growth.  The opening of ING Capital Life Shandong Branch in
Jinan is a milestone for ING's development in the Bohai Bay
region.  By leveraging ING's global expertise and the
successful base built by ING Capital Life over the past
three years, I am confident that ING Capital Life Shandong
Branch can offer a unique customer experience and quality
insurance protection to the 90 million citizens in the
province."

    Rex Tung, General Manager of ING Capital Life, added,
"We are delighted with the success of ING Capital Life
to date and we view the establishment of the Shandong Branch
as a significant development in the growth and expansion of
our business to the North Eastern region in China.  As the
first operation in China to pilot ING's winning sales
model, we are confident that the new, innovative and high
quality products we bring to the market place will provide
a 'best in class' model for customer service in the
country."

    ING Capital Life is the first Sino-foreign joint
venture life insurance company to operate in Northeast
China.  Headquartered in Dalian, it has two branch offices
in Beijing and Shenyang.  As of July 2006, ING Capital Life
saw accumulated premium income reach RMB660 million.  The
result puts ING Capital Life among the top three in terms
of new policies in individual life insurance coverage in
Dalian.

    ING has two life insurance licenses in China.  Its
other joint venture, Pacific Antai Life Insurance Company,
is based in Shanghai and has operations in Dongguan,
Guangzhou, Nanhai and Shunde in Guangdong Province.

    ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin
offering banking, insurance and asset management to over 60
million private, corporate and institutional clients in more
than 50 countries.  With a diverse workforce of
approximately 120,000 people, ING comprises a broad
spectrum of prominent companies that increasingly serve
their clients under the ING brand.

    For more information, please contact: 

    ING

     Karen Williams
     Tel:    [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]

     Polly Leung
     Tel:    [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]

SOURCE  ING