The strangest thing about ING Barings is not the offices now closed in far-flung emerging markets. It's not the excesses that battered the bank's P&L. It's that its sober Dutch parent, ING Bank Europe's sixth largest financial institution by market capitalization has been prepared to keep the investment banking unit afloat for so long. While ING's other key businesses, asset management, insurance and retail banking, performed creditably, the investment banking group has bombed.
The heart of ING's investment-banking operation is ING Barings, best known for its high profile in emerging markets. This entity comprises the corporate financiers of the venerable Baring Brothers, as well as ING's own institutions, ING Capital and ING Bank International.
ING Group's recent grim results largely reflect the problems of its investment-banking operation. Group net profits fell by 22% and operating profits by 48%. The annual report published at the end of March 1999 reported gloomily: "This decrease can be entirely attributed to the non-recurring strong decline of the trading results and the extra additions to the debt provisions." Corporate and investment banking was the worst performer in ING's portfolio of businesses. Brokerage and advisory fees fell 34.5%,