ING posts 1Q2023 net result of €1,591 million with strong income growth and modest risk costs

Profit before tax increases strongly to €2,344 million in 1Q2023; CET1 ratio strengthens to 14.8%

CEO statement
“The year 2023 got off to a good start, as we recorded a strong first quarter,” said ING CEO Steven van Rijswijk. “Our results confirm the strength of our diversified business model with a growing client franchise. Our solid capital position, diversified funding profile and sound risk management enabled us to continue supporting our customers and the broader economy.

“During this quarter, marked by turbulent market conditions, clients continued to put their trust in us. This was evidenced by our stable and diversified deposit base, which grew by €1.3 billion in the quarter. Another key element for future value creation is increasing the number of primary customers, as this provides us with opportunities to deepen our client relationships. I’m pleased that our primary customer base grew by 106,000 to 14.7 million during this quarter, with a strong contribution from our franchise in Germany.

“Financially, we benefited from the current interest rate environment. Our income was 21 percent higher than a year ago, supported by improved margins on liabilities. Wholesale Banking had a particularly good quarter, with a strong income contribution from daily banking and good results in Financial Markets. Expenses increased on the back of salary raises and higher marketing expenses to support the growth of our business. Quarter-on-quarter, the inflationary effects were less pronounced, but we will keep a close eye on expenses to stay competitive. Risk costs were modest, reflecting the quality of our loan book and including some releases from earlier provisions.

“Offering customers a superior experience is a pillar of our ‘making the difference’ strategy. An example of how we’re making our services more accessible is a voice functionality on our app in the Netherlands that allows visually impaired people to carry out mobile payments independently and safely. And in Germany the online identity card function is making onboarding faster and more convenient. Already used by up to 20 percent of new customers to identify themselves, it is scalable and efficient due to its fully digital nature. In terms of key performance indicators, we retain a leading NPS position in five of our 10 Retail markets, we rate above 4.5 stars in iOS and Android App stores in eight and five countries respectively, and more than 72 percent of customer communications were personalised in the first quarter.

“The other pillar of our ‘making the difference’ strategy is to put sustainability at the heart of what we do. We aim to facilitate and finance society’s shift to a low-carbon future by supporting our clients in their transitions. In the first quarter of 2023, we closed 98 sustainability transactions and achieved a volume of sustainable finance mobilised of €21.9 billion year-to-date.

“Last year we became the first global bank to restrict project financing of new ‘upstream’ projects for the exploration and extraction of new oil and gas fields. In March this year, we announced that we will further expand this approach to ‘midstream’ (oil & gas infrastructure) activities. We also aim to reduce the volumes of the traded oil and gas that we finance. At the same time, we aim to increase the annual amount that we lend to renewables. I’m pleased that ING was ranked in the top-10 of leading global lenders in clean energy in 2022.

“Overall, our first-quarter results reflect the outstanding work of our employees worldwide, who bring our strategy into action each day. I’m proud of how our people have supported our customers and each other in times of need, as we saw after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and as we continue to see in Ukraine. I’m confident we will continue to deliver value for all our stakeholders.”

Additional financial information is available at www.ing.com/qr:
• Full ING Group 1Q 2023 press release (PDF)
• ING Group Historical Trend Data (PDF and XLS)
• ING Group Results presentation (PDF)
• ING Group Credit Update presentation (PDF)

A short ING ON AIR video with CEO Steven van Rijswijk discussing our 1Q2023 results is available on Youtube.

For further information on ING, please visit www.ing.com. Frequent news updates can be found in the Newsroom or via the @ING_news Twitter feed. Photos of ING operations, buildings and its executives are available for download at Flickr.

Steven van Rijswijk, Tanate Phutrakul and Ljiljana Čortan will also discuss the results in a media conference call on 11 May 2023 at 11:00 a.m. CET. Journalists are welcome to join the call via +31 20 708 5073 (NL) or +44 330 551 0200 (UK), (Quote ING Media Call 1Q2023 when prompted by the operator). The meeting can also be followed via live audio webcast at www.ing.com.

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ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).

Sustainability is an integral part of ING’s strategy, evidenced by ING’s leading position in sector benchmarks. ING’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) rating by MSCI was affirmed ‘AA’ in September 2022. As of August 2022, Sustainalytics considers ING’s management of ESG material risk to be ‘strong’, and in June 2022 ING received an ESG rating of ‘strong’ from S&P Global Ratings. ING Group shares are also included in major sustainability and ESG index products of leading providers Euronext, STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell.

ING Group’s annual accounts are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (‘IFRS- EU’). In preparing the financial information in this document, except as described otherwise, the same accounting principles are applied as in the 2022 ING Group consolidated annual accounts. All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible in the tables due to rounding.

Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to a number of factors, including, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions and customer behaviour, in particular economic conditions in ING’s core markets, including changes affecting currency exchange rates and the regional and global economic impact of the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and related international response measures (2) ongoing and residual effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and related response measures on economic conditions in countries in which ING operates (3) changes affecting interest rate levels (4) any default of a major market participant and related market disruption (5) changes in performance of financial markets, including in Europe and developing markets (6) fiscal uncertainty in Europe and the United States (7) discontinuation of or changes in ‘benchmark’ indices (8) inflation and deflation in our principal markets (9) changes in conditions in the credit and capital markets generally, including changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness (10) failures of banks falling under the scope of state compensation schemes (11) non-compliance with or changes in laws and regulations, including those concerning financial services, financial economic crimes and tax laws, and the interpretation and application thereof (12) geopolitical risks, political instabilities and policies and actions of governmental and regulatory authorities, including in connection with the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and the related international response measures (13) legal and regulatory risks in certain countries with less developed legal and regulatory frameworks (14) prudential supervision and regulations, including in relation to stress tests and regulatory restrictions on dividends and distributions (also among members of the group) (15) ING’s ability to meet minimum capital and other prudential regulatory requirements (16) changes in regulation of US commodities and derivatives businesses of ING and its customers (17) application of bank recovery and resolution regimes, including write down and conversion powers in relation to our securities (18) outcome of current and future litigation, enforcement proceedings, investigations or other regulatory actions, including claims by customers or stakeholders who feel misled or treated unfairly, and other conduct issues (19) changes in tax laws and regulations and risks of non-compliance or investigation in connection with tax laws, including FATCA (20) operational and IT risks, such as system disruptions or failures, breaches of security, cyber-attacks, human error, changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including in respect of third parties with which we do business (21) risks and challenges related to cybercrime including the effects of cyberattacks and changes in legislation and regulation related to cybersecurity and data privacy (22) changes in general competitive factors, including ability to increase or maintain market share (23) inability to protect our intellectual property and infringement claims by third parties (24) inability of counterparties to meet financial obligations or ability to enforce rights against such counterparties (25) changes in credit ratings (26) business, operational, regulatory, reputation, transition and other risks and challenges in connection with climate change and ESG-related matters (27) inability to attract and retain key personnel (28) future liabilities under defined benefit retirement plans (29) failure to manage business risks, including in connection with use of models, use of derivatives, or maintaining appropriate policies and guidelines (30) changes in capital and credit markets, including interbank funding, as well as customer deposits, which provide the liquidity and capital required to fund our operations, and (31) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V. (including the Risk Factors contained therein) and ING’s more recent disclosures, including press releases, which are available on www.ING.com.

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Many of those factors are beyond ING’s control.

Any forward looking statements made by or on behalf of ING speak only as of the date they are made, and ING assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or for any other reason.

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