The FINANCIAL — ING Bank 3Q14 underlying net profit of EUR 1,123 million, up from EUR 820 million in 3Q13 and EUR 923 million in 2Q14. ING Group 3Q14 net result EUR 928 million (EUR 0.24 per share), including special items and Insurance results. ING accelerates repayment of final tranche of core Tier 1 securities after comfortably passing the AQR and stress test, according to ING, a global financial institution of Dutch origin.
CEO Statement
“Since launching our ‘Think Forward’ strategy seven months ago, we have been working harder than ever to deliver on our customer promises and strategic purpose of empowerment,” said Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group. “It is encouraging to see our efforts reflected so positively in our strong commercial and financial results for this quarter.”
“Innovation is happening every day at ING. During the third quarter, our drive to keep getting better led to a steady stream of improvements. In the Netherlands, we added voice recognition technology to our mobile banking app – an exciting new feature that is the first of its kind at any European bank. We introduced a digital wallet service in Italy, following the launch of similar services in Poland and Turkey earlier this year. A new digital platform was launched in Spain, which enhances the customer experience – it encourages clients to think about their future by helping them to analyse and manage their personal finances using customisable visuals. In Commercial Banking, we advanced our goals of making banking easier and enabling clients to stay a step ahead by streamlining our on-boarding process, without compromising on due diligence and regulatory requirements.”
“ING Bank posted an excellent set of quarterly results, underpinned by our commitment to serve our customers’ financial needs. We extended EUR 3.3 billion in net lending, primarily in Structured Finance, General Lending and residential mortgages. This was funded by a EUR 4.3 billion net inflow of funds entrusted which was generated across our franchise. The third-quarter underlying result before tax rose 34.7% year-on-year and 16.3% sequentially to EUR 1,486 million, reflecting higher interest results and lower risk costs. This robust performance supported an increase in the year-to-date underlying return on IFRS-EU equity to 11.4%, in line with our Ambition 2017 target range. The Bank’s capital position strengthened, with a fully-loaded CET 1 ratio of 11.1%, and our liquidity and leverage measures remain sound.”
“We continued to simplify our company, consistent with our repositioning as a leading European bank. In light of our intention to divest our remaining stake in NN Group over time, we changed the classification of NN Group to ‘held for sale’ and ‘discontinued operations’, effective as of 30 September 2014. Our stake in Voya Financial, Inc. was further reduced in September to approximately 32%. The financial impacts of these actions, together with the net results of our Insurance businesses, are reflected in ING Group’s third-quarter net result of EUR 928 million.”
”The current EUR 7.9 billion combined market value of our remaining stakes in NN Group and Voya reflect a healthy capital surplus at Group level, affording ample financial flexibility. Last week, the stability of our financial position was affirmed by the outcome of the ECB’s comprehensive assessment. Today, we are pleased to announce that we have received regulatory approval to bring forward our final payment of state aid, which will be paid in the coming days. We are grateful to the Dutch State, our customers and our shareholders for their support throughout the financial crisis and for the confidence they have placed in ING.”
”I am proud of the hard work and dedication of our employees that made our strong performance in the third quarter possible. The implementation of our strategy is on track and we are well positioned to benefit from the transformation that is taking place in the banking landscape.”
