ING Bank Joins Rail Working Group

30th September 2016

ING Bank is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering a wide array of banking services.The bank is active in more than 40 countries and services more than 33 million of private, corporate and institutional customers worldwide. As part of the ING global transportation finance group focussing on Shipping, Container, Rail & Aviation, ING has a dedicated rail finance team based in Amsterdam and Frankfurt. From these two locations, ING looks to support clients in the European, North American and CIS rail markets. ING Bank finances the main types of rolling-stock: passenger trains, traction, as well as freight wagons.

ING Bank recognises that the European rail network faces many challenges today. This is unfortunate because transportation by rail has many social, environmental and economic benefits compared to transportation by road, especially on longer routes. Besides operational challenges, there are also hurdles for efficient financing. The most notable financing hurdle in Europe is of a legal nature and relates to establishing effective, enforceable security—It is not clear if a pledge or a mortgage that is valid in one European country is also valid in its neighbouring country. ING supports the solution of a unified European approach on security mechanics and documents. As the experience in the aviation finance industry suggests, using the Cape Town Convention, such a unified security system significantly reduces financing cost for asset owners (operators, lessors).

ING has the ambition to cooperate with other stakeholders to make the European rail market more efficient. INGs rail specialists are Bastiaan Bierens, Hugo Kanters, Robert van Duuren and Luuk von Meijenfeldt. These specialists will join the Rail Working Group in different formations.