As markets stumble back to growth, ING is making steady progress towards an initial public offering of its Europe-Asia insurance arm. The business returned to the black in 2010 and that growth has continued in 2011, with first-quarter total operating profits rising 35.5% over the same period in 2010 to 561 million, as management has worked to cut costs and improve investment margins.
ING agreed to split its banking and insurance businesses by 2013 as part of a restructuring agreed with the European Commission after it took $15 billion in state aid during the peak of the financial crisis in 2008. The insurance businesses in Europe and Asia will be...