Dutch banking giant ING, which is the title sponsor of the Renault F1 team in addition to sponsor a number of races, has revealed that it is to cut back on its spending as a result of the global financia lcrisis.

"ING will cut operating expenses by EUR 1 billion in 2009," the company revealed in a statement on its website today. "The structural expense reduction will lead to annual savings of approximately EUR 1.1 billion from 2010 onwards. Of the cutback, 35% will come from a reduction of the workforce by approximately 7,000 full-time positions in 2009. The remainder of the expense reduction comes from decreasing costs for our head office, marketing, the Formula 1 program, consultancy, third-party staff and the renegotiating of certain contracts with IT-vendors. Of the total expense reduction, EUR 650 million will be realized in Banking and EUR 350 million in Insurance."

Last year, ING sponsored the Australian, Belgian, Hungarian and Turkish rounds of the World Championship, with all but the Turkish event to continue the deal this year.

Naturally, I am disappointed with our results in this extremely tough environment,” said Jan Hommen, ING's Chairman and CEO-designate. “With the continuing challenging outlook, we feel it is important to take additional action to decrease our risks and expenses. We sincerely regret the impact that some of the measures we are announcing today will have on our colleagues, but these steps are essential to adapt our organization to the new business environment.”

Earlier today, Bloomberg revealed the 7,000 job cuts, together with the news that chief executive Michel Tilmant, a keen F1 fan, had resigned and been replaced by Hommen. At the start of the financial crisis in 2008, the bank had to call on the Dutch government for assistance, receiving a reported $13bn bail-out.

The news comes at a time when the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which last week announced the biggest losses in British banking history, is said to be reviewing its F1 sponsorship, including its agreement with Williams.