The Dutch group's move to sell its Russian business has been called off. ING reiterated that it sees no future for its organisation in Russia.

Netherlands-headquartered banking and financial services group ING has ended its agreement to sell its Russian business, ING Bank (Eurasia) JSC, to Global Development JSC, as originally announced on 28 January 2025. 

ING said it has decided that there is: “no realistic expectation that the buyer will obtain the necessary approvals."

“Our position remains unchanged: we see no future for ING in Russia and remain focused on ending our activities in the Russian market,” ING said. “We are assessing the next steps to achieve this goal. We expect any alternative exit scenario to have a financial impact broadly similar to that of the earlier proposed sale transaction, which was estimated to have a negative impact of ~7 basis points on ING’s CET1 ratio.” 

Like other Western banking groups, ING has shut down Russian operations after the country invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

“Since February 2022, we have taken on no new business with Russian clients, have scaled down operations and have taken actions to separate our business in Russia from ING’s networks and systems. We will also continue to further reduce our offshore exposure to Russian clients,” it said. “This exposure, which is booked by ING entities outside of Russia, has decreased by almost 90 per cent to €600 million ($693 million) as of year-end 2025, of which €300 million is under ECA or CPRI cover.” (This refers to export credit agencies and credit and political risk insurance.)

ING has concentrated more on retail banking and finance in recent years. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, and the bailouts and policies enacted by governments, ING sold off its Asian private bank to OCBC – a business now called Bank of Singapore.