Cookie settings

Cookies are small text files stored on your device to identify you and can be used to remember user preferences and analyse traffic to further improve our website. We may share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. By clicking "Accept all cookies", you agree to the use of all cookies as described in our cookie statement or "Accept only essential cookies" to only use cookies that are necessary for the functioning of our site.

Read our cookie statement here.

You can choose to adjust your preferences at any time.
Wholesale Banking

Our business

At ING Wholesale Bank, we build partnerships with businesses of all sizes. Some of our clients focus on green, sustainable solutions, while others take a more traditional approach. On this page, you'll see how we support them all—from new businesses to those with more experience—through easy, personalized financing. As you saw in our video, one story highlights our work in the bicycle supply chain, showing how ideas can grow with the right support. We can’t cover everything here, so if you’d like to learn more about our efforts to go green, please check out our Climate Progress Update to see our goals, actions, and focus areas.

Mining

Mining provides many of the raw materials that today's society needs and that are crucial if we are to move away from hydrocarbons. In the video we reference financing iron ore producing clients in Australia, a recent example is a $275 million loan for Fortescue to finance their fleet of iron ore carriers. Fortescue, known as the world's No.4 iron ore  supplier, is exploring development and deployment of green ammonia-fueled vessels to further reduce carbon emissions. It’s not just iron ore though, we've also backed clients such the world’s largest hard-rock lithium producer Windfield with a $1.55 billion corporate revolving credit facility.   Lithium is a key component of electric car batteries and is essential for the transition to sustainable transportation.

Steel

Steel is a material essential to the functioning of the global economy. Due to the nature of its production process, it is also a large source of industrial carbon-emissions, therefore, decarbonising this sector is simultaneously one of the greatest challenges and opportunities of our time. Although we are focused on helping our clients with their decarbonisation efforts in this sector,  we need to continue financing transactions that support our way of life. We’ve backed clients such as U.S. Steel, acting as joint sustainability structuring agent on their $1.75 billion  asset-based sustainability-linked credit facility and Stegra, who we referenced in the video, and who are building the world’s first large-scale green steel plant. This project in Sweden will replace coal with green hydrogen and electrify the steelmaking process and aims to cut CO2 emissions by up to 95% compared to traditional steelmaking. We supported Stegra’s €4.5 billion multi-tranche financing in 2024.
As part of our focus on collaborating, we've been actively involved in trying to find ways to decarbonise the steel sector, this involved working with the think tank RMI and leading the working group which established the Sustainable Steel Principles alongside five other banks. We’ve also made our own commitments to no longer provide new dedicated finance for new unabated blast furnaces.

Energy

As referenced in the film, we have played a role in financing a range of energy projects in the Americas. While we have been involved in financing hydrocarbon-related projects such as LNG terminals, we have made a number of commitments to aid the transition of the oil and gas sector, including stopping providing new financing for new LNG export terminals after 2025. You can read further details on our commitments here.
In the renewables space, we have also financed projects such as Edward Sanborn - The largest solar-storage project in the U.S. leading in various roles across three separate financings totaling $2 billion, and acting as initial coordinating lead arranger and joint green loan coordinator on the $8.8 billion dollar financing of Sunzia Wind and Sunzia Transmission, the largest clean energy infrastructure project in the U.S.  These projects are part of our commitment to tripling our financing of renewable power generation to €7.5 billion annually by 2025.

Our commitment to a low-carbon economy

We know that the most effective way we can help to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy is to support our clients and customers – be it in the renewable energy space or companies in carbon-intensive sectors where their ability to drive down emissions can make the greatest impact. Customer engagement is our biggest lever for change, and in Wholesale Banking, our aim is to actively support clients that are working to transform their businesses and drive progress in this transition. To learn more about how we engage with clients on their climate transition plans, you can read more here. 
For the latest result on how we're steering the most carbon-intensive parts of our portfolio, please click here.

The low-carbon transition cannot happen overnight. Even though we finance a lot of sustainable activities, we still finance more that’s not, which is a reflection of the current global economy.

Society is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. So are our clients, and so is ING. We finance a lot of sustainable activities, but we still finance more that’s not. See how we’re progressing on www.ing.com/climate.