ING Groep NV (ISP:NYSE)

Niek Hoek, Chief Executive of Delta Lloyd N.V. said that the firm will consider taking over the insurance assets of ING Groep NV and Fortis ASR Verzekeringsgroep N.V., once they become available. This comes in response to ING's announcement October 26 that it will sell all of its worldwide insurance operations in the coming years. The Dutch government wants to privatize ASR Verzekeringen when market circumstances are favorable. Aviva PLC has also expressed interest in ING’s insurance assets, but Delta Lloyd’s Chief Financial Officer, Peter Kok said that he does not expect Aviva and Delta Lloyd to become competitors on the Dutch insurance market.

The Asia Pacific CEO at Aviva PLC, Simon Machell said on November 4 that while the group is interested in the insurance business of ING Groep NV, absorbing all of it would be difficult. In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Machell said the Dutch group has "concentration in some markets which may be hard for us to integrate into our business today." He did not reveal which of ING's markets Aviva would be more or less likely to take an interest in. "There are individual ING countries, which we may be interested in where it has a complimentary impact on our businesses already," Machell said. "Would we want to look at the whole lot? I'd say that's probably more challenging." Earlier on November 4, the group CEO of Aviva, Andrew Moss, said the company would look into whether it could acquire the insurance assets.

ING has named Rob Leary as CEO of ING Insurance US. Previously, he was CEO of ING Investment Management for Americas. Mr. Leary takes his new position as Tom McInerney, currently CEO of ING Insurance Americas, had been named COO of ING Insurance, effective January 1, 2010. Mr. Leary will be one of six global insurance/investment management CEOs reporting to Mr. McInerney as part of ING's new global insurance/investment management structure. Prior to being named CEO of ING Insurance US, Mr. Leary spent more than two years as CEO of ING Investment Management for Americas. As CEO, he was responsible for all investment management operations in North and South America. His role at ING Investment Management for Americas will be filled by Jeff Becker, previously vice chairman, COO and head of business management and strategy for ING Investment Management for Americas. ING Insurance US also announced that Ewout Steenbergen has been named CFO of ING Insurance US. Mr. Steenbergen assumes the US responsibilities currently held by David Wheat, who has announced his retirement and intention to pursue other opportunities. Prior to accepting this role in the US, Mr. Steenbergen was chief financial and risk officer for ING Insurance Asia/Pacific.