Dutch financial services firm ING Groep NV, which has extensive operations in Des Moines, experienced a record drop in stock price as speculation circulated that the Amsterdam-based company may need to increase its capital, Bloomberg reported.

The company’s stock price plummeted 25 percent to 7.56 euros, the biggest one-day decrease since ING was created in March 1991 as result of a merger between Nationale-Nederlanden and NMB Postbank Group. In U.S. trading this morning, ING’s stock price was $10.68 at 11:15 a.m. Iowa time, down $4.02.

Credit protection costs for ING Bank rose on concerns that the bank needed new capital, traders said.

“There seems to be ongoing speculation that ING doesn’t have enough capital,” said Joost de Graaf, a senior portfolio manager who helps oversee about $650 million at Kempen Capital Management in Amsterdam.

This sharp decline in share price comes in the wake of a 20 billion euro bailout that the Netherlands made available on Oct. 10 to help boost liquidity and strengthen capital amid the global credit crunch, yet Dutch Finance Ministry spokesman Jilles Heringa said that as of today, no companies have utilized the fund, including ING.

ING said it plans to assess the government package, a company spokeswoman said. However, in a note to clients dated Oct. 15, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts said big insurers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are more likely to need financial assistance than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, which are more likely to withstand financial distress.

In a statement issued on Oct. 10, ING said that it was a “financially solid organization” and declined to comment any further.