ING puts new business in Russia on ice over Ukraine

Top Dutch bank ING said Wednesday it will freeze any new business deals with Russian companies, as the European Union moved to cut Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system.

The Amsterdam-based ING also said it would abide by international sanctions and “have processes in place to respond to sanctions in a timely way across our network.”

“We strongly condemn the invasion of Ukraine, the devastating and heartbreaking impact it has on people’s lives and the threat it poses to international stability and security,” said ING chief executive Steven van Rijswijk.

“We have decided to not do any new business with Russian companies,” he said in a statement.

The freeze would mainly relate to new loans, a core business for ING in Russia, ING spokesman Daan Wentholt told AFP.

ING had some 4.7 billion euros ($5.2 billion) in loans in Russia by the end of last year.

“We’ve been in Russia since 1993, almost 30 years,” Wentholt said.

He declined to say how many clients ING had in Russia.

ING said it would also waive fees for personal money transfer transactions to Ukraine and donate three million euros ($3.3 million) to the UN children’s fund for relief efforts.

The EU on Wednesday cut seven Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system in the latest ratcheting up of the Western-coordinated sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh day.

jhe/cdw