AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS: ING GROEP N.V. (ING) has reached an agreement to transfer ING’s Retail Banking operations in Austria to bank99, the bank of Österreichische Post, the Austrian postal services.

The agreement follows a review of strategic options for ING’s Retail Banking operations in Austria as announced in March 2021. ING will retain its Wholesale Banking activities in Austria.

Bank99 was launched in 2020 and currently offers online banking to 80,000 customers. As announced in March, ING has discontinued its savings-only offering in Austria. The approximately 150,000 customers with current accounts, mortgages or consumer loans will be onboarded with bank99, which will also acquire all Retail staff and assets. This process will start in the coming months and is expected to be finalised in the last quarter of 2021.

 “We are happy that in bank99 we have found a partner that offers a new home to our Retail customers in Austria. Bank99 is focused on digital banking and therefore our customers will enjoy easy to use banking services,” said Aris Bogdaneris, head of Retail Banking and Challengers & Growth Markets and member of ING’s Management Board Banking.

ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 57,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 40 countries.

ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).

Sustainability forms an integral part of ING’s strategy, evidenced by ING’s leading position in sector benchmarks by Sustainalytics and MSCI. ING ranks first in our market-cap group by Sustainalytics as of July 2020. ING’s ESG rating by MSCI was upgraded to ‘AA’ in December 2020. ING Group shares are included in major sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) index products of leading providers STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell. In January 2021, ING received an ESG evaluation score of 83 (‘strong’) from S&P Global Ratings.