Press Release

China Construction Bank (Asia) and ING Establish Strategic Collaboration to Capitalize on Sophisticated Demand for Wealth Management in Hong Kong and Macau

HONG KONG - October 17, 2007 - China Construction Bank (Asia) ("CCB (Asia)") and ING Life ("ING") today announced a strategic collaboration in which a series of life and savings insurance products from ING will be made available to customers of CCB (Asia) through its branch network in Hong Kong and Macau. The collaboration is expected to further enhance the bank's wealth management services.

Officiated at today's press conference and signing ceremony were China Construction Bank (Asia) President & Chief Executive Officer Charles Ma and ING Insurance Asia/Pacific Regional General Manager Peter Smyth. They were accompanied by China Construction Bank (Asia) Planning, Marketing & Communications Senior Vice President Elle Wong and ING Insurance Asia/Pacific Hong Kong/Macau Country Manager M. K. Cheng in the event.

China Construction Bank (Asia) President & Chief Executive Officer Charles Ma said in his address, "ING is one of the largest financial service providers in the world, offering professional and high quality insurance services. Through our collaboration with ING, we aim at enhancing our bank's life insurance services." Ma continued, "Insurance business assumes up to 10% of our bank's non-interest income, therefore, we highly value the growth of our life insurance business. We believe the collaboration can benefit our customers as well as increase the bank's income."

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with CCB (Asia)," commented ING Insurance Asia/Pacific Regional General Manager Peter Smyth. "With the rapid growth of the bancassurance market in Hong Kong and Macau, our collaboration with CCB (Asia) forms an important part of ING's business growth in the region. We will draw upon ING's global expertise and experience as an integrated financial services provider to ensure the success of this strategic initiative with CCB (Asia)."

China Construction Bank (Asia) Planning, Marketing & Communications Senior Vice President Elle Wong said in her remarks, "Wealth Management is an integral part of our daily life. Life insurance serves as an effective wealth planning tool, enabling customers to effectively manage their personal finances and plan for the future. Through our collaboration with ING, we are committed towards providing our customers with more quality and diversified choices and services for life insurance, while attracting new customers and increasing our market share concurrently."

"We are confident that the extensive and established banking platform of CCB (Asia) will help further strengthen ING's business and provide us with a broader distribution network, while we will provide high quality insurance services and products to our valued partner CCB (Asia)," said ING Insurance Asia/Pacific Hong Kong/Macau Country Manager M. K. Cheng.

The collaboration commenced in October 2007. CCB (Asia) now offers a variety of new and comprehensive life insurance products through its 21 branches in Hong Kong and Macau as well as its 3 new branches to be opened before year end at Happy Valley and Mei Foo Sun Chuen in Hong Kong, and Taipa in Macau. ING will provide a full range of life insurance sales support, including regular product and sales training for CCB (Asia)'s team, investment in relevant marketing and promotional efforts, as well as systems and online platform support for policy services. A special team has also been formed to visit CCB (Asia) branches regularly to offer assistance in sales follow-up.

Catering to customers' needs for protection and stable savings, a variety of ING life insurance products are immediately available at CCB (Asia)'s branches including high savings with short, medium or long-term payment options. ING will continue to work with CCB (Asia), to launch more tailored products to meet the changing needs of their customers.

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