ING gathers forces for push into muni derivatives.

Two former executives at Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. and a former Citicorp trader are leading ING Capital's effort to expand its global derivatives business into the municipal derivatives market.

ING Capital, the U.S. investment banking arm of Amsterdam-based INC Group, will provide municipal derivatives products such as swaps with maturities of up to 30 years, debt service agreements, structured products, and options, a recent news release said. The firm also provides liquidity guarantees.

INC Capital's new municipal products group consists of Steven Klein, a former senior product manager for derivative products and liquidity at FGIC; Christine Stanton, a former FGIC executive working on utility and transportation credits; and Steve Whiting, who previously traded municipal derivatives and structured proprietary derivative products at Citicorp. All three are vice presidents at ING.

Klein, a senior public finance banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. before working at FGIC, is responsible for origination and investment banking at INC. Stanton, a former deputy treasurer of the New York City Water Finance Authority, manages the group' s credit risks. Whiting is responsible for trading and structuring transactions.

All ING Capital transactions carry the full guarantee of the firm's parent, ING Bank, which has short-term ratings of P-1 from Moody's Investors Service and A1-plus from Standard & Poor's Corp., and long-term ratings of Aa2 from Moody's and AA-minus from Standard & Poor's.

ING Capital has branches in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and London.

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