ING to shut equity derivatives business in Singapore, New York and Brussels

[AMSTERDAM] ING Groep NV will move as many as 60 trading jobs from Amsterdam and Brussels to London as the biggest Dutch lender seeks to consolidate operations and cut costs, a person with knowledge of the plans said.

The company also plans to shut its equity derivatives business for financial institutions in New York, Singapore and Brussels, said the person, who declined to be identified as the plans were confidential.

ING is the first large European lender shifting staff to London after the UK decided to leave the European Union in a June referendum. Other banks have signalled they may have to move jobs and operations abroad, with UBS Group AG chief executive officer Sergio Ermotti saying last month the Swiss lender may have to shift as many as 1,500 positions elsewhere.

While the future of London as a financial capital is in question after Brexit, the city remains home to a large pool of potential talent. ING may have to review the location in the future if the impact of Brexit is so severe as to affect its ability to draw employees or otherwise impacts the business and its clients, the person said.

ING plans to eliminate about 5,800 jobs in Belgium and the Netherlands to help speed up its digital transformation, the Amsterdam-based bank said Oct. 3. Those measures are expected to save about 900 million euros (S$1.4 billion) a year.

Shares of ING have lost about 9 per cent of their value this year, giving the company a market capitalisation of about 44 billion euros.

BLOOMBERG