London - ING has appointed Elena Orsini as Head of HR in the UK and Middle East. She will be responsible for developing, implementing, and executing the UK HR strategy, processes, and initiatives in line with the Global ING HR strategy and to ensure all initiatives comply with local legislation and regulations.

Elena joins as a member of the UK Management Team, where a core focus for her will be to promote an inclusive culture within the bank. This includes fostering a culture of collaboration, performance, and innovation to ensure ING lives up to its purpose of empowering clients in life and business. Elena will also contribute to the diversity and inclusion agenda, identifying and developing talent and expanding leadership capability across the organisation.

Elena has nearly 25 years’ experience in HR. Most recently she was at Kleinwort Hambros Private Bank (part of Société Générale Group) where she was responsible for the management and development of human capital across the UK, Jersey, Guernsey, and Gibraltar. She held FCA Senior Manager 18 responsibilities for HR including recruitment, remuneration, training, and management of regulated functions. Prior to this role she was Regional Head of HR for Société Générale Middle East, based in Dubai. She was previously Head of HR at Horizon Software for seven years, working across the London and Dubai markets.

Elena began her career as an inhouse recruiter at Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking in Paris for their Equities Derivatives trading floor. She holds an Executive MBA from BAYES (Formerly known as CASS) Business School in London.

Malgorzata Kolakowska, CEO Head of Wholesale Banking UK and Middle East, ING, said: “I’m pleased to welcome Elena as our new Head of HR in the UK and Middle East.  She brings a wealth of experience across a number of financial services business areas, making her best placed to lead and manage the UK HR team to ensure high performance and seamless delivery to ING in the UK.” Elena Orsini said, “I’m very pleased to be joining ING as Head of HR in the UK and Middle East and to lead the co-ordination of the full range of human resource processing, advice, and expertise to ensure operational excellence in all applicable HR processes.”

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Elena Orsini career biography

2016 – present: Head of Human Resources, Kleinwort Hambros Private Bank - Société Générale Group, 2014 – 2015: Regional Head of Human Resources, Société Générale Middle East, Dubai 2007 – 2014: Head of Human Resources, Horizon Software, London, Dubai 2002 – 2007: Human Resources Business Partner for Corporate and Support Functions, Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking 1998 – 2002: In house recruiter for Equities Derivative, Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking Press enquiries

About ING

ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 57,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 40 countries.

ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).

Sustainability forms an integral part of ING’s strategy, evidenced by ING’s leading position in sector benchmarks.

ING's ESG rating by MSCI was upgraded to 'AA' in December 2020. ING Group shares are included in major sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) index products of leading providers STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell. In January 2021, ING received an ESG evaluation score of 83 ('strong') from S&P Global Ratings.

Contact: Olivia Newcombe - ING@cognitomedia.com