NETHERLANDS – Institutional assets under management at ING Investment Management have fallen 17.2% to €99bn, following the sale of Baring Asset Management.

Total assets under management at the bank have fallen 4.4% to €470.1bn. Barings, with €30.1bn in assets, was sold to Mass Mutual and Northern Trust earlier this year.

The bank said: “ING Investment Management continue to leverage the global scale of its operations and asset management skills to develop global strategies and cross-sell successful strategies into other regions.”

ING Real Estate’s total portfolio rose to 53.5bn from €50.1bn at the end of 2004. ING added that its new pension fund in Slovakia had added €7m of new business.

And it said that the asset management activities within the wholesale banking arm posted a 35.2% increase in pre-tax, excluding divestments, to €96m. ING Real Estate’s pre-tax profit rose 34.1% to €98m.

Asset management was not among the bank’s “growth engines” identified by chairman Michel Tilmant. These included ING Direct, life insurance in developing countries and the pensions and retirement savings business.

Overall ING Group’s pre-tax profit before divestments rose 28.9% to €2.18bn.

Elsewhere, BNP Paribas said total assets under management within its asset management and services unit rose €18.3bn to €361.4bn – with net new inflows of €9.8bn. Assets under custody were up 15% at €2.6trn.

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