NN Group


NN Group N.V. is the parent company of Nationale-Nederlanden and NN Investment Partners. Nationale-Nederlanden is one of the largest insurance and asset management companies in the Netherlands. NN Group is headquartered in The Hague, its office in Rotterdam is located in the skyscraper Gebouw Delftse Poort, which was the tallest skyscraper in the Netherlands until 2009. Aside from these two offices, the company has an office in Ede but no other main offices in the Netherlands, instead NN mainly relies on independent intermediaries for selling insurance.
On 23 December 2016, NN Group reached an agreement to acquire competitor Delta Lloyd Group for 2.5 billion euro.

History

Nationale-Nederlanden was formed in a merger in 1963 between the De Nederlanden van 1845 and the Nationale Levensverzekeringsbank. The result of the merger, because of the strong domestic position of Nationale and the international experience of De Nederlanden, was to set the company up for the future. Emerging computerisation was embraced, and other innovation costs were jointly borne by the combined companies. Cooperation strengthened the companies’ experience in group insurance and allowed Nationale-Nederlanden to expand its territory. In 1991 NN merged, this time, with the NMB Postbank Groep, to form the ING Group. Aside from insurance and asset management, the company also offers some banking products such as mortgages.

NN Group

During the financial crisis of 2007–2008, ING Group received financial support from the Dutch State. As part of the support deal, ING Group was mandated to split off ING Direct USA and all insurance and asset management activities. In 2013, a new company, NN Group, was formed, which became the parent of the European and Japan insurance and asset management activities of ING Group, for example including Nationale-Nederlanden and NN Investment Partners. In 2014, NN Group was listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange in an IPO. The split from ING Group was finished in 2016, when it sold all remaining stock in NN Group.

Criticism

On June 2018, the NN Group was criticized by environmental organizations for its investments in tar sands oil companies and pipelines. NN Group reacted by stating that active engagement with the companies delivers more result than divestment from these companies.