© REUTERS
ING will again spend 2.5 billion euros on its own shares. Last year, the Dutch bank launched two large share buyback programs worth 2.5 and 1.5 billion euros and the group invested 1.5 billion euros in itself at the end of 2022.
The news came on Thursday morning on the sidelines of quarterly results. In the first three months, ING saw commission income increase by 11.4 percent to 998 million euros. Interest income declined slightly, 4.7 percent to 3.83 billion euros.
“We got off to a strong start in 2024 with good financial and commercial results,” said CEO Steven van Rijswijk. He speaks of “strong” commission income, both from banking activities for individuals and for SMEs and large companies, while interest income – which had increased very much last year – has been “resilient”.
Net profit finally fell slightly (-0.8 percent) to 1.58 billion euros. That’s much more than the 1.45 billion euros that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected on average.
Like other European banks, ING has benefited from higher interest rates from the European Central Bank (ECB) in recent months. With a new buyback program, the Dutch bank continues to aim to make its share more attractive to investors.
In terms of retail banking in Belgium and Luxembourg, ING reports both higher interest and commission income. These increased by 6 and 29 percent respectively to 524 and 148 million euros.
2024-05-02 06:33:05
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