Building the ING India team

ING Vysya Bank has hired Janak Desai as country head of financial markets, effective 1 November 2005.

Desai will be responsible for all financial markets activities of ING Vysya Bank, including the sales and trading of foreign exchange, fixed income and derivative products. He will be responsible for developing customised financial markets solutions for ING Vysya's clients and for expanding the bank's crossborder business.

Desai will report to Bart Hellemans, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ING Vysya Bank.

Desai, 41, joins ING Vysya Bank from IDBI Bank where he had been country head of treasury since January 2001. While at IDBI Bank, Desai was responsible for building a market-focused treasury team, providing a full range of risk management products and customized solutions. IDBI Bank was also among the handful of banks permitted by the regulators to trade in the Indian rupee options market when the product was first introduced. Prior to IDBI Bank, Desai was head of trading at Standard Chartered Bank and also worked at ABN AMRO for five years.

Hellemans commented: "Janak brings considerable expertise and experience of the Indian financial markets to this role. He will be instrumental to increasing ING Vysya Bank's local product and distribution capabilities for trading to provide efficient, customized solutions to meet the growing needs of the bank's customers."

ING Vysya Bank is currently expanding its Wholesale Banking operations, and has completed a number of high profile debt origination and M&A transactions, including two syndicated loan transactions for the Reliance Group, a syndicated loan for Gujarat Ambuja Cements and a club facility for ICICI Bank.

ING is the single largest shareholder of ING Vysya Bank with a 43.99% equity stake. ING Group's activities in India include banking, insurance and asset management, all operating under the ING Vysya brand name.