ING Group traces its roots to two major insurance companies in the Netherlands and the banking services of the Dutch government.

Four decades later, they added Postcheque and Girodienst services allowing working families to make payments via post offices.

On 28 January 2025, ING has reached an agreement to sell its Russian operations to Global Development JSC, reducing its exposure to 1 billion euros, with the deal expected to close in 2025 and result in a 700-million-euro loss.

[13] Since the ING Group was founded, it has made many acquisitions: ING Group expanded its international business through several acquisitions through the 1990s including the Belgian bank Banque Bruxelles Lambert (BBL) in 1998, US-based insurance company Equitable of Iowa and the commercial bank Furman Selz.

It increased its Latin American and Asia Pacific insurance businesses with the acquisition of ReliaStar and Aetna's Financial Services unit.

The first of these was set up in Canada in 1997, and was soon followed in several other countries including the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Australia.In 2008, as part of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, ING Group, together with many other major banks in the Netherlands, took a capital injection from the Dutch government.

[21] ING Bank has faced criticism for maintaining operations in Russia despite the sanctions and geopolitical tensions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Leave Russia project, the bank continues to operate in the region, raising ethical concerns about its business practices and its alignment with international sanctions.

[24] ING's corporate head office is situated in Cumulus Park, Amsterdam's innovation district in the south-east of the city.

[25] ING House was the head office of NN Group and located in the business district of Zuidas in Amsterdam, Netherlands from 2012 to 2014.

The European Commission also required ING to divest itself of its insurance and investment management operations by the end of 2013 as a condition of approving the state aid.

The final tranche of €1.025 billion was paid on 7 November 2014, half a year ahead of the repayment schedule as agreed with the European Commission in 2012.

[31] The actions were in line with EU demands to split the Group's banking and insurance operations as a condition of Dutch state aid.

[33] On 12 June 2012, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a US$619 million settlement[34] with ING Bank N.V. to settle potential liability for conspiring to violate[35] the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) and for violating New York state laws by illegally moving billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned Cuban and Iranian entities.

[citation needed] Other notable activities: In 2013, ING U.S. was spun off in an initial public offering ahead of its planned rebranding as Voya Financial.

Non-retail private banking services are offered in Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and various countries in Asia and Central Europe.

It provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in Belgium, together with related financial products such as insurance and asset management.

ING has two offices in Taguig, Metro Manila; World Plaza Building and Arthaland Century Pacific Tower.

The primary geographic focus of the wholesale banking business is the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Romania, where it offers a range of products, from cash management to corporate finance.

This acquisition increased the brand recognition of ING around the world and strengthened its Wholesale Banking presence in the emerging markets.

The new name better reflects the large corporate and institutional, international offering that makes up the vast majority of ING WB's business.

In 2009, ING announced plans to separate its insurance business from its main banking operations through two IPO's, one for Europe and Asia and another one for the US.

ING Direct Canada operated five 'Save Your Money Cafés' (branches) in the major cities of Toronto, Montréal, Calgary and Vancouver.

[76] Through this, ING Direct took over responsibility for £2.5 billion of deposits of 160,000 UK customers with the Icelandic bank Kaupthing Edge.

ING Direct products in the UK included savings accounts, Cash ISAs, mortgages and home insurance.

ING announced a plan to exit the UK in August 2012, as it sought to raise funds to repay the Dutch government.

On 9 October 2012 Barclays announced that it had agreed to buy ING Direct UK, taking on its £10.9bn deposits and £5.6bn mortgage book.

[77] In September 2007, ING Direct acquired 104,000 customers and FDIC insured assets from NetBank after it suffered from bank failure.

ING owns and houses proprietary art collections in Belgium, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

[89] In September 2020, FinCEN Files disclosed that ING in Poland helped Russian and Ukrainian clients to launder huge amounts of money out of Russia.