# Commission Decision of 16 November 2012 State aid SA.33305 (2012/C) and SA.29832 (2012/C) implemented by Netherlands for ING (notified under document C(2012) 8238) (Only the English text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2013/719/EU), Division: ING Direct EU

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

Moreover, to support ING's long-term viability, ING Direct will refrain, without prior authorisation of the Commission, from offering a more favourable price than its best priced direct competitor (among the ten financial institutions having the largest market share in the relevant product market) with respect to standardised ING products on the retail mortgage and retail savings markets within the EU. This means that ING can at best offer a price while there is at least one product on the market with a better price. A financial institution will be defined as all companies within a group (e.g. second brands, subsidiaries are included). All prices offered by such a financial institution (including prices of second brands and subsidiaries) can be used for benchmarking.
As soon as ING Direct becomes aware of the fact that it has become the price leader on a retail mortgage or retail savings markets within the EU, ING Direct will adjust its price to a level which is in accordance with this commitment as soon as possible without any undue delay - within [0-20] working days if allowed on basis of (local) legal and regulatory rules. At the moment ING Direct sets its prices, it will assess whether they comply with the restrictions. In order to minimise conflicts between the price leadership ban and legal and regulatory restrictions to adjust prices, ING Direct will limit the validity of its market offerings to a maximum of three months.
In case the number of prices in the benchmark based on the best rate from each of the top ten Financial Institutions is less than ten, the 11th, 12th 13 etc largest Financial Institution will be used until ten prices from different Financial Institutions have been found.
For each country and product group, a pre-set top ten Financial Institutions list has been agreed (which is included in a separate document which has been agreed with the Commission as the basis for the monitoring) and will be used until 30 June 2013 and updated periodically. In the second quarter of 2013 the PLB Monitoring Trustee will review the list and propose changes if needed.
For Spain, France and Italyspecific benchmarking agreements have been made. In the specific case of Italy (core rate), ING commits to price lower than the number 1 core rate in Italy compared to the full savings market (excluding three niche players: […]). New market entrants will be assessed by the PLB Monitoring Trustee. The benchmark for Italian variable savings promotional rates is constructed based on the top ten Financial Institutions. For each Institution, the highest variable savings promotional rate will be taken into account. If the Financial Institution does not offer a variable savings promotional rate, the highest [1-12] month fixed-term deposit offer will be taken instead. However, if more than [2-6] out of the top ten Financial Institutions offer a variable savings promotional rate, the ability to include [1-12]-month fixed term deposits is no longer valid. ING commits to price lower than the best offer in that benchmark list. Details to the exceptions and other clarifications are included in a separate document which has been agreed with the Commission for the monitoring.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2013/719/annex/I/division/d/division/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2013-719/annex-I/division-d/division-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.