THE HAGUE - THE troubled Dutch bank and insurance group ING will cut 750 jobs from its US operations during the first quarter of the year due to the economic crisis, the Dutch news agency ANP reported on Tuesday.

'Like many companies in the United States, we have to adapt our activities to market conditions,' an ING spokesman was quoted as saying.

ING currently has some 11,000 employees in the United States.

The jobs losses will come from its banking and insurance operations.

Plans to hire 170 people have also been scrapped.

The Dutch government injected 10 billion euros (S$20 billion) into ING in October to help it weather the economic crisis.

ING is one of the world's top 20 banks by market capitalisation, with 85 million clients and 130,000 employees. -- AFP