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Isabel Frits (ING): Finding the Sweet Spot
With a long standing international experience within ING Group, her recent appointment as Head of Wholesale Banking at ING in Luxembourg will allow Isabel Frits to focus on her teams, clients and to grow the wholesale banking activities.
Can you describe your career in a few words?
My journey with “the orange family” started in 2005. Thanks to my various experiences within ING Group (Belgium, head office in Amsterdam, New York, and London), I have built a strong expertise in Wholesale Banking, servicing large corporate and institutional clients. I was already very familiar with Luxembourg and our activities here as I was already overseeing all the lending activity for Belux from Belgium. I am delighted to have started my mandate as Head of Wholesale Banking at ING in Luxembourg: the country is a key financial center in Europe and ING has an important role to play, especially towards the large corporate and investment fund industry. as it is a super big financial market that is good for our corporate clients as well as for the investment fund industry.
“Our teams are the bridge to our clients: they ensure ING’s suite of products is top-of-mind for clients when they seek banking solutions.”
What is your role as Head of Wholesale Banking?
My role is to support both our teams and our clients. Focusing on my teams, on their expertise and well-being, engenders values-based leadership. I am a big believer in the values and culture of ING. We have a diverse team in Luxembourg in terms of nationality, seniority and background and we work hard in ensuring it is an inclusive environment. The teams are the bridge to our clients: they ensure that ING’s full suite of products is aligned with client needs. It goes from lending to cash management solutions and Foreign exchange derivatives. We also cover the investment fund industry from a to z, with depositary bank, custody and fund financing (capital call) capabilities.
How are your customers’ needs changing?
For several years changes in regulation and geopolitical developments have had a significant impact on our customers and, as a result, have changed the way we do business, connect, and interact with our customers. The rapid increase in interest rates as well as the dynamic real estate, commodity, FX, equity and debt capital markets force us to be adaptable to better serve our clients. However, a constant is the trust that customers place in us and their ability to access the services they require wherever, whenever, and however they choose. We are responding by offering more digitized and automated solutions, and we are also broadening our product offering to find that sweet spot.