ING faces new legal case after laundering issue

THE HAGUE, the Netherlands: ING said on Wednesday it has been summoned by investors claiming to have lost millions of euros after the Dutch banking giant paid a settlement in a criminal probe fiveand-a-half years ago.

Amsterdam-based ING paid Dutch prosecutors 775 million euros ($835 million) to settle a laundering probe in 2018 after it failed to ensure that clients were not hiding cash for illegal purposes in its accounts.

“Today, ING and certain board members were served with a writ of summons for litigation in the Netherlands on behalf of investors who claim to have suffered financial losses,” ING said in a statement.

The summons covered “ING’s disclosures on historic shortcomings in its financial economic crime policies, related risk management and control systems, and the investigation by and settlement with the Dutch authorities in 2018,” it said.

The damages claimed were around 500 million euros, ING said, but it did not give further details.

“We do not agree with the allegations and will defend ourselves against these and the claimed damages,” the bank added.

The scandal at the time saw ING axe its chief financial officer after a two-year probe by Dutch authorities found that many white-collar crime suspects held accounts at the bank.

The case threatened to seriously damage ING’s reputation and triggered calls for its directors including its chief executive officer to resign.

Wednesday’s summons is the latest in a series of litigation to hit ING, which employs more than 60,000 people in 40 countries across the globe.

In January, Dutch climate activists said they were targeting the banker, accusing it of funding “polluting companies with more money than all the Dutch banks.”

ING said it would respond to the climate case “in court if necessary.”