VIENNA, Austria, September 15 /PRNewswire/ --

- Microsoft BizTalk Server to help reduce risk and time for securities 
workflow between ING and its settlement counterparty.

Microsoft Corp. announced today at Sibos 2008 that ING Investment
Management has chosen Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 to enable SWIFT
connectivity into The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BNYM), the settlement
counterparty appointed by ING for back-office operations. Having completed
the proof of concept, the project is due to go live by the end of 2008 and
will enable a timely transfer of settlement instructions and receipt and
reconciliation of messages from BNYM. Coupled with a reduction in the number
of parties involved in the transaction, these methods are expected to
transform ING Investment Management's securities and payments processing to
provide a significant, highly efficient message processing structure.

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Using Microsoft BizTalk Server including BizTalk Accelerator for SWIFT,
ING will gain the ability to exchange the complete set of ISO 15022
securities and payments messages directly from their internal applications to
increase straight-through processing (STP), support compliance needs and
reduce risk.

"We were looking for a solution where we could maintain our existing ING
architecture, and one that was cost effective, easy to implement and offering
more control and visibility of our business processes," said Thomas Schreier,
senior vice president, Information Technology, ING Investment Management.
"Microsoft's BizTalk Accelerator for SWIFT achieves all of this without
adding complexity or causing disruption to our existing business operations.
Microsoft's solution provides us with the required interoperability,
reliability and flexibility for rapidly creating and deploying SWIFT-based
financial messaging solutions as well as meeting our customers' needs more
efficiently and effectively."

In addition, by using Microsoft BizTalk Server, ING will be able to
efficiently transmit information to and from a newly established, centralized
data storage system. This system will allow the firm to handle the expected
increase of transactions that the business will face in the future as part of
its expansion plans.

"The investment management industry is changing at a rapid pace," said
Dayle Scher, research director, Investment Management, TowerGroup. "Asset
managers need to support increasing volumes and support new securities and
portfolio strategies. By outsourcing back-office operations, some of the
pressure placed on the operations area can be relieved, allowing the firm to
focus on its core activities of investing and providing value to its
customers."

"Having a global company like ING implement BizTalk Server as its
financial messaging platform for the future demonstrates Microsoft's position
as a respected leader in the provision of cost-effective, mission-critical,
enterprisewide technologies," said Sheida Hadji-Ashrafi, worldwide industry
manager, Payments, at Microsoft. "Although primarily driven to save on
operations and technology costs, successful outsourcing still demands
flexible yet agile integration to existing business processes. BizTalk Server
including the BizTalk Adapter for WebSqhere MQ will serve as a bridge between
ING's Microsoft-based platform and its counterparty's infrastructure,
enabling the firm to use a full range of options for business process
integration. We will continue working with ING to further streamline its
business and help the firm with its architectural, design and operational
reviews going forward."

About Microsoft in Financial Services

Microsoft's Financial Services Group helps financial firms leverage
technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business
success. We help our customers in banking, capital markets and securities,
and insurance achieve four business outcomes: develop relationships, drive
innovation, improve operations and build connections. To do this, we focus
our products and technologies, and our work with leading solutions, services
and hardware partners, on key areas where we believe we and our partners can
deliver exceptional value. Those areas include advisor platforms, channel
renewal, core banking, insurance value chain, investment management, risk
management and compliance, and payments. For more information, visit
http://www.microsoft.com/financialservices.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.

Web site: http://www.microsoft.com