"“We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.” "


Chinese premier Wen Jiabao 12th March 2009


""We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we'd like to do our best to preserve that system."


Timothy Geithner US Secretary of the Treasury, previously President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.1/3/2009

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Dutch Bankers ING make losses and take prompt plans to cut business, costs, staff

ING the Dutch financial services, founded in 1743, has reported a whopping net operating loss of €3.1 billion euros (US $4.68 billion) which consisted of €1.07 Bn loss at ING's banking arm - principally on more bad loans, and a €2.04 Bn.loss as insurance deals have gone bad. (They escaped buying ABN - Amro in September leaving it to the Tartan Titans RBOS)

ING has cut two deals with the Dutch government. Last year it received a €10 Bn. investment lifeline. In January 2009, the state assumed most of the risk for €27.7 Bn in troubled US mortgage-backed securities ING owns.

Major attack on costs and deep jobs cuts

In January 2009, the company had warned markets it expected a loss for the quarter of €3.3 Bn and CEO Michel Tilmant had resigned.The company claims they will cut operating costs by 1 billion euros in 2009, reduce loans by 10 percent from September levels and announced 7,000 job cuts in January, representing 5 percent of their total work force. wi600 joll go at ING Direct, the online business that posted a Q4 pre tax loss of €1.41 Bn.

1,400 jobs will go at its wholesale banking unit, which lost €f 366 Mn, retail banking which made aprofit of €75 Mn. will see 800 job cuts.

The company’s insurance business, which had a loss of €1.39 Bn, will slash 4,200 jobs - 2,400 in the Americas, 1,100 in Europe and 700 in the Asia- Pacific region.

ING confirmed today they will not renew the 3 year sponsorship contract with Renault F1 and to end its presence in F1 beyond the 2009 season.

ING shares fell to €4.97 in Amsterdam - ING shares have dropped 32% this year reducing market capitalisation to € 10.2 Bn.

How can a company facing these problems have even looked at taking over ABN / AMRO - why on Earth did RBOS persist ? Hubris.

You don't need bankers to sort this mess out, clear objectives, clear policy, prompt effective action between informed Government and honest decent managment.

Not much in evidence in the UK.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"UPDATE: Administrators KPMG appointed at Blackburns".

Read the comments section...

http://tinyurl.com/d79cr8

What a mess the print trade is in.Good site for info on the print trade.

Anonymous said...

"RR Donnelley set to close Limerick site with loss of up to 480 jobs"...

http://tinyurl.com/c32gte

RR Donnelley that took over Ben Johnson Ltd of York...that took over HMSO Gateshead that they then closed...Hmmm.

Anonymous said...

"Almost £100,000 has been spent in the last year trying to plug leaks in the Scottish Parliament, it has emerged."

"Last year the bill for repairing the leaks reached £94,000 - on top of the annual maintenance budget of £1.4m."...

http://tinyurl.com/crlv5c

What a waste of money that place was/is.

ziz said...

When supplying software to the textile / garmentindustry over 25 years Lord Patel had many experiences of crditors folding and all sorts of arrngements which left trade suppliers potless and fancy 4 Accountants dividing the spoils.

These pre packs are a fraud on suppliers but prolly the legal eagles say no fiduciary duty by creditor to suppliers.

We ended up with sales contracts that stopped the client farting if they failed to pay on due date - precious god it did us.

How do you recover ink supplied smeared over 500,000 leaflets ?

Just another business hazard and another reason small companies will be hitting the wall with monotonous and frequent regularity.

Thanks for the link - printers are going through tough times - but nice story follows of the print design bizniz and mr Tony Blair (TM)

ziz said...

"Dell has moved its operation to Lodz in Central Poland on the back of huge EU subsidies. RR Donnelly already has a plant in a subsidised zone \(SEZ) in Poland.

Years ago, Regional Assistance Areas in the UK got a bad name for simply shifting jobs from one part of the country to another, chasing subsidies and tax exemptions. Now it is happening on a Europe-wide basis."

Irelans has had its grant chasers for years. The Desmond Brothers in NI making for M & S used to play the North off against the South.

The Wst Coast - Belmullet is full of failed ventures , especially from US companies that disappeared when the funds ran out.

Intel cutting back in US is opening their newest plant in Communist Vietnam. It was Pres Bush got them into the WTO when he visited them.


International capital will move where the low non unionised labour costs are.

Anonymous said...

Quebecor`s Corby plant used to be Hunterprint Plc...

http://tinyurl.com/7texyl

(C) Very Seriously Disorganised Criminals 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - copy anything you wish