They were a million a few months ago. All had to leave. After the shutdown of ING France, all customers ended up having to transfer their current account, PEA, securities account or even savings account to another establishment. More than 500,000 have chosen Boursorama Banque, with which ING France had signed an agreement, and certain investment accounts left without news from clients have switched to Bourse Direct. Today, at the time of refocusing, ING France is appointing a new boss.
Financing and investment
The revival of the Dutch bank in France will no longer be awarded to retail customers. Retail banking will give way entirely to investment banking and all corporate finance businesses. “We are refocusing on our historical business of corporate and investment banking”, said the one who takes over the reins, Thomas Labergère. The entire management team has been renewed, also specified the 54-year-old man in a press release.
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Thomas Labergère had worked for ING since September 2021, heading the investment and corporate banking. In other words, with his recent appointment as head of ING France, his role will not really change. Before, he made his career at the Citi bank, again in particular for the French market. The American investment bank made him go through various positions, including several in New York, but the manager has also built up a sizeable file on the French market after having often worked from Paris.
He draws his investment knowledge, particularly in France, from managing the portfolios of French multinationals in the Media & Telecom Technologies (TMT), automotive and industrial sectors. After 2015, he turned the essay into driving Citi from a corporate and institutional banking perspective. “He led the development of Citi in France to make it a key player with multinationals and financial institutions”could we read a little over 2 years ago in a press release from ING, announcing that it had poached him.
Context switching
For his new missions, Thomas Labergère knows that he will have to deal with the new macroeconomic context that has taken hold in recent months, far from what an investment bank could experience in 2020 and 2021. Business financing will require increased risk management at a time when the economy is fragile and interest rates are rising.
Even if they won’t represent much soon, ING France still has 20,000 home loans contracted with individuals that the bank will endeavor to continue to keep until they are fully reimbursed. One of ING’s spokespersons confirms to AFP that at the start of 2023, all current accounts and savings accounts have been closed.
