ING CEO: Not Willing To Divest Units At Too Low A Price

Dutch financial services giant ING Groep NV (ING) is looking at ways to raise cash to start paying back its outstanding loans to the Dutch government, but it won't sell assets at any price, the company's chief executive said Wednesday.

Chief Executive Jan Hommen also reiterated to a press conference that the company plans to divest EUR6 billion to EUR8 billion over the next three to five years.

ING received EUR10 billion of emergency government loans last year at the height of the global banking crisis and says it wants to start paying back that money as soon as possible.

Hommen also said the company has realized EUR525 million of cost cuts thus far in 2009, with the majority of the EUR1.3 billion in savings now planned coming in the second half of the year.

He said most of the cuts so far have come from the company's insurance operations, while the banking business will make the bulk of its cuts over the second half.

Patrick Flynn, chief financial officer, told the conference that all parts of the company's insurance business have shown the benefits of reductions.

ING earlier in the day said it had increased the total of cost cuts it plans for this year to EUR1.3 billion from EUR1.billion.

Company Web site: www.ing.com

-By A.H. Mooradian and Robin van Daalen, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; art.mooradian@ dowjones.com