ING Group eyes to work with China Post and is also seeking more merger and acquisition opportunities in China, its Asia Pacific head said over the weekend.

 

Hans van der Noordaa, chairman of ING's insurance & investment management Asia/Pacific, said on Saturday in Shanghai, that he has a "dream" to team up with China Post to leverage the postal body's vast distribution network in China.

 

Senior officials from China Post have already visited ING's headquarters in Amsterdam, Noordaa said, adding that it is still too early to talk of a possible future alliance. But he has a big ambition for the tieup to boost the world's 13th biggest financial player's growth in the fastest growing major economy.

 

He played down challenges that some of China Post's clients can't afford ING's products and said simple and low-price products can be developed instead. He also said that ING has expertise in tying up with a postal agency as it has already done so with the postal body in Japan.

 

The second biggest life insurer in Asia Pacific is also open to more M&A activities in China's assets management sector, Noordaa said.

 

"We have a big appetite to do more in China," Noordaa emphasized.

 

ING now has two insurance joint ventures in China - ING Capital Life and ING Pacific Life. ING holds 50 percent each in the two joint ventures and is ranked the No. 8 foreign insurer in China's insurance market among overseas players.

 

Noordaa said ING has no plan to merge its two existing insurer joint ventures.

 

The Dutch financial player also owns 16.1 percent of Bank of Beijing.

 

(Shanghai Daily October 8, 2007)