On 19 October 2026 the Amsterdam District Court stopped ING from ending its banking relationship with Gazprom International Projects B.V. until the company finds another bank. The order was made in summary proceedings: it is interim relief, not a judgment on the merits.

The litigant is not the whole Russian energy group. It is a Dutch company based in Aalsmeer, part of the Gazprom International group. It holds a euro account at ING. According to the judgment, that account is the group's only payment facility in Europe. Without it, the company said it could not meet tax debts in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, or pay staff and service providers.

ING first gave notice on 29 December 2023, under article 35 of the Dutch General Banking Conditions, with three months' notice. It did not rely on the Dutch anti-money-laundering statute (Wwft). After the client objected, the bank repeatedly put the date back, most recently to 1 October 2026. Before the hearing, ING's lawyers confirmed the account would stay open until judgment.

ING argued that, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian-linked clients require heavy monitoring. Gazprom International Projects is not on the EU sanctions list, but the bank cited sanctions risk, monitoring cost and reputational harm. The judge accepted that those interests are real and weighty. The court did not, however, find proven Wwft risks on the transaction list ING put in evidence.

The company said it had approached 15 banks, inside and outside the EU, and that all had refused. ING replied that other markets still exist — it named Austria, Hungary, Turkey, the UAE and Serbia — and that the search had not gone far enough. At this stage the judge sided with the client: given membership of the Gazprom group and the geopolitical setting, it was not sufficiently plausible that an alternative would be found now.

Even so, the court did not decide whether closing the account would be unacceptable under the Dutch Civil Code. The reason for the order was different. From 1 January 2027, on the case as pleaded, a new article (4:71k Wwft) is due to give EU businesses registered in the Dutch trade register a right to apply for a basic euro payment account. A forthcoming statute is not a law already in force. The judge still thought it inopportune to let the account close now, because the company could soon apply for such an account and, if refused, start a new case.

ING must keep the relationship until the client obtains another bank. Gazprom remains obliged to keep looking. No daily penalty was attached: at the 5 October hearing the bank said it would comply of its own accord. ING was ordered to pay 2,226.57 euros in costs. The decision is provisionally enforceable to the extent granted.

Image: Ceescamel, Amsterdam District Court, Parnassusweg 280, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; the courthouse, not the hearing room.

Sources consulted: Gazprom mag van rechter bij ING blijven bankieren - NOS; ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2026:10265, Rechtbank Amsterdam, C/13/794179 / KG ZA 26-837 LV/MV.