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ING Barings to restructure
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February 12, 1999: 10:25 a.m. ET
Investment bank's long-awaited announcement underwhelms
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Dutch investment bank ING Barings announced its long-awaited restructuring Friday, but disappointed analysts by including no new job cuts.
An ING Barings spokeswoman said there would be no more job cuts above the 1,200 announced in October, although she said the company will continue to look closely at costs.
ING Barings, a unit of Dutch financial services giant ING Group (ING), said it will continue to expand into Europe as well as other developed financial markets.
It also plans to maintain its commitment to emerging markets which was blamed for much of parent ING's 330 million guilder ($168.4 million) loss in the third quarter of last year, but said the group's capacity in these markets "has been aligned to lower levels of business."
The company said it will reorganize the bank into four global business lines: corporate and institutional finance, equity markets, financial markets and global banking. In Europe, ING Barings operations will be more closely coordinated with those of fellow ING Group-members Banque Bruxelles Lambert and ING Bank.
The strategy will focus on global product lines instead of a regional structure.
The announcement was met with some skepticism from analysts, who said there didn't seem to be any major changes afoot. The market also appeared underwhelmed. In late in Amsterdam trading Friday, ING Group shares were down 2.5 percent at 48.75 euros.
"It was a little disappointing," said an analyst at a London investment bank who spoke on condition that his name not be used. "The fact is there isn't much here."
"We were hoping for more job cuts or for an indication that capital would be used more effectively," he said. "As it is, it looks like more of the same."
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ING Group
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