Dutch global financial services group ING is opening a private banking operation in London this week to expand its European offering.

Dutch global financial services group ING is opening a private banking operation in London this week to expand its European offering. According to an ING spokesman the venture is a new front-end operation for an existing private client business in the UK. ING is entering the UK private banking market as a general commitment to its global private client business, the spokesman told WealthBriefing. The initial focus for the new business will be clients from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Ex-pat Europeans and UK non-domiciles will also be targeted in the first stage of the launch. The new offering will include banking and credit products, financial planning, investment management and offshore trusts, says ING. A new global product, Serenity VSX, an actively-managed capital protection product will also be available. ING is currently looking for relationship managers for the new business and, as WealthBriefing reported last week, has recruited five from the London private client operation of ABN Amro, all of whom will have joined by the end of October. Two more relationship managers are expected to join by the year-end. The Dutch bank hopes to have 20 relationship managers in place in London in the next two to three years.