ING criticised for early billing before closing UK arm

Investment bank ING has infuriated many of its small and medium-sized corporate brokerage clients by billing them in advance for 2003 just days before shutting down its UK operation.

The Anglo-Dutch bank notified clients earlier this month that it was refocusing its corporate broking arm to concen trate on larger publicly quoted companies.

The letter came as a surprise to many companies who just a few days earlier had been asked to pay the bank their annual brokerage fee for the coming year - typically £30,000-£35,000.

While ING - formerly ING Barings - yesterday blamed poor timing for the blunder, a senior manager at one of the company's former clients described the practice as "underhand".

Companies including brewer Belhaven, fellow brokerage firm Teather & Greenwood and software group XKO were among those former ING clients who received letters asking for payment in advance just prior to the broker closing its UK corporate broking arm.

"We did receive a letter the day before they said they would no longer be providing us with services," said Teather & Greenwood's chief executive Ken Ford. "It's extraordinary. They must have known that people like us automatically pay our bills."

As luck would have it, however, Teather & Greenwood held off paying the bill as did several other companies contacted by ING. "I would have been very angry if I had paid the money and I had seen the broker quit soon after," said Simon Beart, chief executive of XKO Group.

Last night a spokesman for ING denied that the company was attempting to swell its coffers by billing clients in advance and then closing its smaller brokerage operations.

"It is just unfortunate that some of the bills went out and we would not expect a company to pay for anything more than the service they had been given," he said.

But many of the bank's former clients are trawling the City looking for a new broker after ING's restructuring. Two weeks ago ING closed an office in Liverpool with the loss of 30 jobs as part of a global move to cut 1,000 roles from its 10,000-strong wholesale banking arm.