Former head office of ING, popularly known as ‘the Klapskate’, ‘the Crumb Thief’, ‘the Poenschoen’ and ‘the Ironing Bolt’.Image ANP / Kim van Dam
Whether it is the Amstelveenseweg or – despite a ban – the A10 highway: action group Extinction Rebellion (XR) has chosen an unlikely location this Saturday for a demonstration against alleged climate abuses at ING. The climate activists were probably helped in their search for an iconic action location by Wikipedia, which incorrectly states that the former ‘Poenschoen’ is owned by the bank.
Whoever the activists hit with their road blockade on Saturday, it will not be ING. The bank has had nothing to do with ‘the clap skate’ for 13 years. Since 2011, the building has been owned by real estate vehicle REI (Real Estate Investment) Investment I, a 100 percent subsidiary of insurer NN Group. Since 2009, the former Nationale-Nederlanden has had nothing to do with ING, from which it emerged.
It is undeniable that the Glass Palace has an ING past. When ING still dreamed of world dominance, it had the eye-catcher designed by MVSA installed in 1999 on a piece of land where Saab garage De Snelheid had been located for decades. In 2002, the group moved into the ING House, an office of 20,000 square meters, including six beautiful courtyards.
Business collector
After the banking crisis of 2008, in which ING also had to be rescued by the State, the juggernaut was split up under pressure from the European Commission in 2009 into an insurer, Nationale-Nederlanden and a seriously downsized banking group with a focus on the Netherlands and Europe.
The ‘glass money warehouse’ no longer fit in with that. ING moved in with ING Netherlands in the Amsterdamse Poort (‘the Sand Castle’) in 2012 and moved to its new campus a little further away in South East in 2019. NN exchanged ‘de Strijkbout’ for The Hague in 2016. ‘De Kruimeldief’ became a corporate collector as Infinity House, where Lexence’s lawyers are now the largest tenant.
It remains unclear why Extinction Rebellion chooses a place in the fight against ING that has nothing to do with ING. Apparently, the activists, just like ING 25 years ago, are mainly concerned with the picture. Previous ING actions at the current head office and Saturday relay occupations of bank offices passed by the crowd almost silently.
Symbol
After this newspaper XR pointed out the omission in November, there was silence for a long time. After some insistence, an XR spokesperson said that the building is ‘a symbol for ING’. Afterwards, XR then added the words “former headquarters” to the call to action.
With the same reasoning, the environmental activists could have picked the old office in Zuidoost, or the head offices of former ING blood groups NMB and Postbank in Amsterdam. But, like the current ING headquarters, there is no highway along it.
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2023-12-29 19:00:42
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