ING Groep NV announced plans today to sell 10 to 15 business operations worth up to $10.6 billion as part of a new strategy to reduce risk and refocus on its core operations.

As part of the changes, ING will operate its bank and insurance divisions separately under one umbrella company.

The bank will become a predominantly European operation with one integrated balance sheet and management team.

The insurance division will reposition itself to focus on life and retirement services, with operations in Benelux, the United States, Central Europe, Latin America and Asia/Pacific.

In the United States, ING said it would transition its variable and fixed annuity business to low-risk rollover products. Non-core businesses, such as employee benefits, group reinsurance and existing annuity books, will be reviewed and the U.S. financial products division will be reduced as assets mature.

Spokesman Phil Margolis said at this point it is premature to say how these company-wide changes would affect its Des Moines-based ING Life Insurance & Annuity Co. business. In January, the company eliminated 72 positions in Des Moines as part of 750 job cuts across its U.S. operations.

ING’s announcement follows an earlier move to divest 2 billion to 3 billion euros’ worth of its operations, which it achieved with the sale of ING Canada.

Other changes include reviewing its life insurance activities in China and Japan and integrating its investment management operations in Europe, the Americas and Asia/Pacific regions into one global investment management organization.

“We are taking ING back to basics on all levels,” said CEO Jan Hommen in a release. “The crisis has reinforced the need for us to be even more in touch with our customers.”

In a presentation today, Hommen said ING’s first-quarter results were “significantly better” than its fourth quarter 2008 results, when it reported a loss of 3.7 billion euros, Reuters reported.