In September ING paid a huge 775 million euros to settle a criminal investigation into money laundering which found that ING had failed to take adequate measures to prevent money laundering. "This past year has been filled with both achievements to be proud of and challenges to overcome and learn from," said ING chief executive officer Ralph Hamers.
He said the bank was pushing ahead with a "know your customer" programme to ensure similar lapses did not happen in future. ING posted a 2.2 percent rise in turnover for 2018 to 18 billion euros. The money-laundering row saw ING axe its chief financial officer Koos Timmermans after a two-year probe by Dutch authorities that found many white-collar crime suspects held accounts at the bank.