Former headquarters of ING, popularly known as “the Klapskate”, “the crumb thief”, “the Poenschoen” and “the ironing bolt”. ANP image / Kim van Dam
Whether on the Amstelveenseweg or, despite the ban, on the A10 motorway: the action group Extinction Rebellion (XR) has chosen an unlikely location for a demonstration against alleged climate abuses at ING this Saturday. Climate activists were probably helped in their search for an iconic location by Wikipedia, which incorrectly states that the former “Poenschoen” is owned by the bank.
Whoever the activists hit with the roadblock on Saturday, it won’t be ING. The bank has had nothing to do with the “clap skate” for 13 years. Since 2011, the building has been owned by the real estate vehicle REI (Real Estate Investment) Investment I, a 100% subsidiary of the insurer NN Group. Since 2009 the former Nationale-Nederlanden has no longer had anything to do with ING, from which it was born.
It is undeniable that the Glass Palace has an ING past. When ING still dreamed of world domination, it had the MVSA-designed attraction installed in 1999 on a piece of land where the Saab De Snelheid garage had stood for decades. In 2002 the group moved to the ING House, a 20,000 square meter headquarters, including six beautiful courtyards.
Business collector
After the 2008 banking crisis, in which ING also had to be rescued by the state, in 2009, under pressure from the European Commission, the giant was divided into an insurer, Nationale-Nederlanden, and a seriously downsized banking group with focus on the Netherlands and Europe.
It is unclear why Extinction Rebellion would choose a place in the fight against ING that has nothing to do with ING. It seems that activists, just like ING 25 years ago, are mostly concerned with the picture. ING’s previous actions at its current headquarters and Saturday’s relay occupations of bank offices passed almost silently among the crowd.
Symbol
After XR newspaper reported the omission in November, there was silence for a long time. After some insistence, an XR spokesperson said the building is “a symbol for ING”. Later, XR added the words “former headquarters” to the call to action.
With the same reasoning, the environmentalists could have chosen the old headquarters of Zuidoost or the headquarters of the former blood groups ING NMB and Postbank in Amsterdam. But, like the current headquarters of ING, there is no highway running alongside it.
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2023-12-29 19:00:42
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