Dutch financial group ING has no plans for an acquisition in Central Europe and that includes Romania, too, said Harry Sistermans, the official in charge with operations in the region.

Why this choice of strategy? "We no longer have the money for such a transaction. On the other hand, considering the current market circumstances, we believe an organic growth approach is more suitable," the ING official said.

He admits that a potential acquisition could help ING secure a significant slice of the retail market faster, though. Sistermans, however, says that the financial strength of the group has been dwindling in the last three years because of the poor performance of the capital markets, which impacted on the balance sheet, and because of the significant amounts of cash absorbed by the insurance investments. Actually, insurance is a capital business for ING, placing the group 11th among European financial institutions in terms of market capitalisation, which reaches 34.9 billion euros.

Sistermans says ING is determined to build a strong retail banking division in Romania, but will do it by itself, based on its ten-year experience on this market. After several delays, the typical retail service and product package could be released on July 12.

ING took a first step towards retail in 2003, when it launched a mortgage credit package. The offer prepared for launch this summer is based on a distribution system backed by a complex IT systems network, which the bank sees as a solution to keep operating costs down to a minimum and much lower than those of a traditional network of branches.

ING Bank has 13 offices open at the moment, and is soon to open a 14th in Iasi. Harry Sistermans says ING does not plan to change the status of the Romanian banking unit, which is not a separate legal entity. This is de