Which clients are you serving in the wholesale division? 

Andrew Bester: At the group level, we focus on the largest companies and funds in the world, across our network covering 40 countries. Our mission is to help them reach their goals throughout their respective activities. For CFOs, this means serving all their treasury needs, from payments to cash management, hedging risks, foreign exchange, and lending. On the funds side, we cover the whole value chain, from creation to liquidation, including payments & cash management, depositary, custody, hedging risks, and prefunding capital calls through structured loans.  

Isabel Frits: When you specifically look at Luxembourg, our core business is clearly investments funds, and we also serve corporations, other banks and insurance companies. We have fewer big corporations here than in other jurisdictions but there are nice gems in Luxembourg as well. When they are headquartered here, the relationship is steered globally from Luxembourg. And if their headquarters are located elsewhere, Luxembourg serves the local needs of our customers while leveraging our global ING banking network. In both cases, our Luxembourg clients benefit from a single point of contact, and they can leverage our deep global expertise in many sectors. One of those is funds management, for which Luxembourg is ING’s global center of expertise. 

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“Luxembourg is ING’s global center of expertise for fund management." 

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How do you help your clients reach their goals?  

Andrew Bester: In today’s world, it is critical for our clients to rely on a robust and high-performing bank like ING. It gives them peace of mind as they can count on us to help them deal with the ever-growing complexity of our world. I have in mind four main challenges: risks – including inflation, geopolitical changes, FX -, regulation, digitization and sustainability. Let me give you an example of risk, from help we’ve given to our clients in the shipping business in the past month. As a result of water shortage in the Panama Canal, many ships needed to be rerouted. Our clients’ CFOs had to reassess the routes of their container ships, mitigate inflation and to reevaluate the hedging of their risks, especially regarding commodities and foreign exchange rates. Sometimes we provided temporary liquidity lines or guarantees that they needed to operate. On the regulatory side, our role is to help our clients always remain compliant. We believe that a well-guided approach creates a safer environment and new opportunities.  

Isabel Frits: On the sustainability side, ING has a strong advantage, being recognized as a sustainability pioneer. In 2017, we were the first bank to issue a sustainability linked loan to a Dutch corporation. This loan helps our clients in their sustainable transition as it takes time to achieve net zero. As a bank, we play our role in this important process by setting specific KPIs – like for instance less CO2, more diversity – which unlock lower interest rates when they are reached. We have also expanded these mechanisms into bonds.  

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What risks and opportunities do you see right now? 

Andrew Bester: I feel that the situation is quite balanced. Recent growth in the Eurozone and US was stronger than expected and everyone start recognizing change for what it is:  preparation for a future full of opportunities. In today’s world, companies of all kinds need to have a very clear business model. And while climate change is the biggest challenge society is facing, solving the problem brings huge opportunities with it as well. According to the International Energy Agency, the transition to net zero emissions by 2050 will require $5 trillion in annual bank financing by 2030 globally. So we're increasing the number of sustainable deals every year, contributing to our corporate clients' sustainable transition. 

Isabel Frits: Our “orange” culture is very unique and efficient in this context. It is highly entrepreneurial, with a very strong focus on helping our clients. Our Luxembourg office has identified many opportunities. Let me give you an example: 19.7% of funds in Luxembourg have U.S initiators. This is a massive market, in line with 20% of business coming from the U.S in our global wholesale banking segment. We are meeting a lot of potential clients, listening very carefully, so that we can offer tailor-made solutions that will help them succeed. To me, the key to success today lies in our ability to understand the complexity of our clients’ needs. 

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“The key to success today lies in our ability to understand the complexity of our clients’ needs."