Businessweek

y sold ING Direct UK to Barclays. In February 2013, the company sold life insurance, general insurance, pension, and financial planning units in Hong Kong and Macau, and its life insurance operation in Thailand to Pacific Century Group. In December 2012, the company sold its insurance operations in Malaysia, which included its life insurance business, employee benefits business, and its 60% stake in ING Public Takaful Ehsan Berhad. In November 2012, the company sold ING Direct Canada to Scotiabank, a Canadian financial services company. In February 2012, the company sold ING Direct USA to Capital One Financial Corporation. In 2012, the company discontinued the Strategic Trading Platform business line, which was included in Commercial Banking segment. Strategy The company’s strategic priorities include strengthening its financial position, restructuring, streamlining the portfolio, repaying state aid, and building both stronger banking and insurance/investment management businesses, all based on sound business ethics and good corporate citizenship. Regulation and Supervision The U.S. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act includes a range of provisions with varying degrees of potential impact on the company’s U.S. and non-U.S. operations. In addition, the company’s entities are required to comply with the requirements under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act that is subject to regulatory compliance oversight by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre. The company’s South Korean insurance companies are subject to supervision by the Financial Services Commission and its executive arm, the Financial Supervisory Service, the major financial regulator in Korea. The company’s broker-dealer entities in the United States are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the states in which they operate, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-regulatory organization that succeeded to the securities industry self-regulatory functions of the National Association of Securities Dealers and the New York Stock Exchange. The primary governing statutes for such entities are the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and state statutes and regulations, as applicable. The company’s entities in the United States (including certain of its broker-dealers) also act in the capacity of a federally registered investment advisor (providing investment advice to customers for a fee), and are governed in such activities by the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Moreover, its entities manage registered investment companies (such as mutual funds) and the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, regulates the governance and activities of those funds. Significant Events In April 2013, ING Groep NV announced that it has agreed to sell its 49% stake in Korean insurance venture KB Life Insurance Co. Ltd. to joint venture partner, KB Financial Group. History ING Groep N.V. was founded in 1991.