Nicholas Byrne Quotations

We believe there was insufficient detail in the brief press release to draw strong conclusions about the quality of the fourth-quarter results.

The positive news in our view is the dividend... however, the headline net profit looks light.

We believe this will be another quarter of solid results for ING, further adding to our belief that earnings should remain resilient in 2006.

We have adopted a more positive stance in retail and wholesale banking following strong cost containment in 2006.