The ‘cold culture’ and ‘lack of support from the leadership’ has led dozens of senior female staff to leave financial services group ING in recent years, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

The paper bases its claims on a confidential report produced by Radboud University in Nijmegen and a number of worried female staff, the paper says. The research was triggered after almost 100 out of 550 senior female staff left between 2004 and 2006.
ING has had a prominent role in trying to attract more senior women into banking and won a prize from employers organisation VNO-NCW for its efforts in 2006.
Politicised
Women interviewed in the report describe the atmosphere at ING as ‘politicised, cold and closed’ with little room for ‘criticism, fairness and healthy cooperation’, the paper says.
In particular, women find it hard to get on at ING once they have reached the age of 45, the paper says. Just 4% of senior functions at the bank are done by older women, compared with 41% by men aged over 45.
In addition, an increasing number of women in positions of power are being recruited abroad, the paper claims.
ING told the paper the report gave a one-sided view of the company and that many measures had since been taken.