Description: Dutch bancassurer ING will split in two, transforming itself into a smaller European lender in the most striking example yet of the deep changes that EU policymakers want to force on banks that received state aid.

Source: Reuters.com

Date: 10/26/2009

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSTRE59P0U020091026

Questions for discussion:

• Summarize the financial structural changes coming to ING.
• Do you think the bank was responsible for its own financial weakness or was it simply another victim of the credit crunch? Explain your answer.
• Has the treatment of U.S. banks by regulatory authorities been similar or different?
• How has ING stock performed recently?