Bakers and Norton Rose land ING global roles

Baker & McKenzie and Norton Rose have won places on ING's global legal roster after the Dutch financial group completed a review of its key advisers.

The review - the group's first since 2003 - was kicked off earlier this year by general counsel Jan Willem Vink.

Former panel members Lovells and Dutch firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek have been left off the new line-up.

The new-look roster of firms consists of new additions Bakers and Norton Rose alongside existing firms Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Sullivan & Cromwell. All firms have been appointed for an indefinite period of time.

ING UK legal head Adrian Marsh commented: "We have been running the panel for a number of years and have been very pleased with the way it has worked. However, in the current conditions we wanted to look at our panel firms and their fee offerings and see if other firms could come forward with some new ideas.

"Fees were an important factor, but we wanted to ensure that overall we got the best value from our legal advisers."

ING has also begun a separate review of its country-specific and specialist panels which both Lovells and De Brauw are active on. That review is expected to conclude in the next few weeks.