Company History in the U.S.

Early Beginnings

After some smaller initial U.S. business ventures, ING Group predecessor, Nationale-Nederlanden, started building a life insurance business in this country in the mid-1970s when it acquired a majority of Wisconsin National Life Insurance Company in 1975.  This was followed by the acquisition of Midwestern United Life Insurance Company in 1976.

1977 - ING acquires Security Life of Denver

The Security Life of Denver Insurance Company was established in 1928 as a life and health insurer. In 1940, it expanded into reinsurance and group insurance. It became part of Nationale-Nederlanden in 1977. In 2004, Southland Life of ING Group was added to Life of Denver.

1979 - ING acquires Life of Georgia (sold in 2004)

Life of Georgia insurance company was acquired by Nationale-Nederlanden in 1979, resulting in a considerable increase in activities in the United States.

1997 - ING acquires Equitable of Iowa

Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa was founded in 1867 by 15 prominent citizens of Des Moines, Iowa. In 1888, co-founder F.M. Hubbell became president of the company. Many of his descendants would assume the same role, most recently Frederick S. Hubbell (1987), who retired as an Executive Board member of ING Group in 2006.

1997 - ING acquires Furman Selz

Furman Selz was founded in the U.S. in 1973 as a research-driven investment boutique. It was an employee-owned investment bank with offices throughout the United States and in London, Dublin and Tokyo. ING bought the company in 1997. Furman Selz's investment banking, securities brokerage activities and asset management activities were integrated into various ING businesses.

2000 - ING acquires ReliaStar

ReliaStar's predecessor Northwestern National Life Insurance Company (NWNL) was founded in 1885 in Minneapolis. It grew into one of the largest financial services companies in the U.S., offering life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, group insurance and reinsurance. In 1967, it purchased North Atlantic Life Insurance Company of Jericho, NY. In 1977, it acquired Northern Life Insurance Company of Seattle. These companies were unified under the ReliaStar brand in 1995. The company continued to grow through acquisitions, including Pilgrim Funds, a mutual funds business acquired in 1999. In 2000, ING acquired ReliaStar.

2000 - ING acquires Aetna Financial Services

Aetna Life Insurance Company was incorporated in Connecticut in 1853. From 1861 Aetna began to expand its product range turning the company into a multiple-line insurer. In order to focus mainly on health insurance, Aetna started selling parts of its business. In 2000, Aetna sold Aetna Financial Services and Aetna International to ING.

2008 - ING acquires CitiStreet

CitiStreet was one of the nation's largest retirement plan recordkeepers, offering products and services for defined contribution, defined benefit and health and welfare plans. The "Citi" in CitiStreet originated as H.C. Copeland and Associates in 1976. Copeland administered and serviced retirement plans in the education, government and healthcare market segments. The "Street" in CitiStreet dates back to the mid-1970s, offering recordkeeping, fiduciary, investment-management, and communications services for ESOP, LESOP, money and stock-purchase plans and defined contribution and benefit plans. The two businesses were merged to become CitiStreet in April 2000 as a joint venture of Citigroup and State Street Corporation.

2010 - ING sells ING Reinsurance and three broker-dealers of ING Advisors Network

As part of the company's "Back to Basics" effort, ING Group sold the U.S. group reinsurance business to Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. in January 2010. The following month, the company closed a deal with Lightyear Capital for the purchase of Financial Network Investment Corporation, Multi-Financial Securities Corporation, and PrimeVest Financial Services, which along with ING Financial Partners, Inc., collectively did business as ING Advisors Network. The three broker-dealers that were sold now operate at Cetera Financial Group.

2013 – ING U.S. unveils new brand and offers stock through IPO

After two years of transforming the strategy, financial profile, and culture of the company, ING U.S. begins trading as a public company on the NYSE under the ticker symbol VOYA, which represents its new future brand identity, Voya Financial. The Voya name is meant to convey momentum and optimism and remind consumers that preparing for a secure retirement should be like taking a voyage and having positive experiences along the way.