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The Dutch institution is heavily hit by the Covid-19 crisis, which also forces it to put more than a billion euros aside.
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The Dutch group ING has registered a net profit of 299 million euros in the second quarter, a decrease of 79.2% compared to the same period last year.
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The company indicates that it achieves provisions for an amount of 1.3 billion euros in order to hedge against the risks of credit default.
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A huge sum that the Amsterdam bank justifies by “several large files“in the Netherlands, Germany, Asia and America. It does not mention companies, but ING would be particularly exposed to the demise of Wirecard, the German fintech that went bankrupt in June.
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“The Covid-19 pandemic continues to severely affect the economies in which we operate and the way we do business in the second quarter,” comments the new CEO of the group Steven van Rijswijk in a press release.
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The boss nevertheless remains optimistic, emphasizing interest income despite the pandemic and satisfactory income in terms of investments. “I have confidence in ING’s strength in these difficult times and I believe that our strategic direction is the right one to lead us into the future.”
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In accordance with the ECB’s request, the group indicates thatit will not pay a dividend until next year at the earliest.
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Belgian ROE on the floor
If ING indicates that the total number of its staff increased by 320 full-time equivalent during the second quarter to reach 55,772 FTEs, it specifies that its number of employees has fallen in retail banking in the Benelux, particularly in Belgium.
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In Belgium, the retail segment sees its pre-tax income fall to 56 million euros, while it reached 295 million euros in Q2 last year. Return on equity (ROE) thus fell to 1.9%, while the Dutch retail bank still posted 22.6%.
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It is essentially the cost of risk which weighs on the Belgian bank. This is established at 156 million euros, against barely 16 million euros a year ago, specifies the group. Revenues are down 5.3%, mainly due to the drop in net interest income, while expenses are up 6.1%, due to regulatory costs and the constraints imposed by the “Know Your” regulation Cutomer “.
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ING Belgium will communicate its specific results around 9:30 am.
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:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/4f260e02-d7a7-11ea-b5a0-0218eaf05005.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "Another sharp increase in the number of corona infections in Aruba Abroad")
