ING Groep NV announced this morning that it will move toward a complete separation of its banking and insurance operations, shrinking itself into a smaller Europe-focused bank over the next four years. The Dutch-based financial services company’s divestment will include all of its U.S. life insurance and annuity operations, which are based in Des Moines.

“Today we are announcing a comprehensive set of actions that, taken together, provide a clear plan for resolving the uncertainty created by the financial crisis and will launch a new era for ING,” Jan Hommen, CEO of ING, said in a press release. “A little over one year ago, ING began to experience the direct impact of the financial crisis, resulting in two instances of government support to strengthen our capital position and to mitigate risk.”

Under the plan, ING will divest its five regional insurance operations, including its U.S. operation, which under the plan now report to Tom McInerney, CEO of ING Americas, who today was named chief operating officer for the company’s global insurance operations.

“We’re looking at all options,” Victorina De Boer, a spokeswoman for ING in the Netherlands, told the Business Record. Those options could include an “(initial public offering), sale, or a combination of those,” she said. “A lot depends on the market circumstances, and if there is an appetite (from potential buyers).”

De Boer said that for now, plans announced by ING in April to transition its U.S. variable and fixed annuity businesses to low-risk rollover products are still in place.

“That strategy is still valid,” she said. “The U.S. will focus on retirement services; we have a very strong position in the life insurance market.”

ING has a work force of about 10,000 in the United States, including about 1,200 employees in Des Moines. In January, the company had eliminated 72 positions in Des Moines as part of 750 job cuts across its U.S. operations.

ING’s second-quarter profits fell 96 percent compared with the 2008 quarter as it set aside money for risky loans and reduced the value of its real estate holdings.

Under a restructuring agreement it reached with the European Union, the company will also sell its American online banking business, ING Direct USA, based in Wilmington, Del. That sale is expected to take until the end of 2013 to complete.

The company’s plan will enable it pay back its loan from the Dutch government, address the European Commission’s requirements for viability and fair competition, “and return our focus to the business and what matters most to our customers,” Hommen said.

The process will leave ING’s balance sheet 30 percent smaller than before its government bailout. ING said it would be “predominantly focused on Europe, with selective growth options elsewhere.”