ING Group - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

ING Group is High Risk.

ING Group is High Risk. The company yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. ING embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	High Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	Medium Risk
Political Actions	No Data

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

ING notified its clients that it will restrict or stop financing companies it believes are not making enough progress on reducing their climate impact (1). ING will no longer finance new oil or gas projects (2)(3)(4). ING integrates ESG into all of its business practices. The bank works “to know our suppliers and ensure they share our commitment to fighting climate change” and its business relationships are guided by its Environmental Social Risk policy framework (5)(6).

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

ING does not discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs. However, it will only give to religious organizations that provide non-sectarian services (1).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

ING requires its employees to take DEI training (1). ING appears to prioritize diversity over merit in its business structure through the establishment of gender targets for its leadership composition. ING is seeking “at least 35 percent women in senior leadership by 2028″ and “at least 30 percent women in the leadership pipeline by 2025” (2). ING protects its employees against viewpoint discrimination (3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

ING supports DEI within its business practices. From its Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging page: “We treat DIB like any other strategic priority” (1). ING was the first organization to sign the Declaration of Amsterdam’s LGBTQ+ statement and participated in Bloomberg’s 2023 Gender Equality Index (GEI) (2). ING is a member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance, which formerly required a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. However, in April 2025, the NZBA dropped that commitment as a requirement for membership but still expects members to align their climate targets with limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius by 2100 (3)(4).

Criteria:

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

ING is a founding partner of “Workplace Pride – International platform for LGBTIQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer) Inclusion at Work” which scores companies on LGBTQ standards (1). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of ING using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (2).

Criteria:

Uses corporate political actions and/or financial contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level:

N/A

Rationale:

ING does not operate a PAC or report on its lobbying at this time (1)(2)(3).