ING saw a slight increase in income in the fourth quarter, on a higher underlying net profit. That is the average expectation of analysts polled by Bloomberg news agency. Over the whole of last year it is expected that there will be a lower net result and a marginally higher income. The bank presents its quarterly and annual figures Wednesday beforehand.
The financial group attracted a lot of negative attention in the past year. Because of the lax policy of ING, money laundering on a large scale could take place. To end this, the bank reached a settlement of 775 million euros in total and financial director Koos Timmermans left under political pressure. Earlier, the failed attempt at a salary increase for CEO Ralph Hamers also caused a lot of commotion.
Underlying analysts estimate an average of 4.43 billion euros, slightly higher than in the fourth quarter of 2017. ING is likely to report a higher net profit of 1.16 billion euros, against 1 billion euros in the same period. years earlier.
The analysts expect for the whole of 2018 that the benefits will improve by just under 2 percent, to 18 billion euros. The underlying annual profit comes to a small 5.3 billion euros, which is 6 percent more than the amount that went into the books in 2017. Under the line ING is about 4.5 billion euros, including the burden for the money laundering scandal, predict the market researchers. The net result was € 4.9 billion a year earlier.
Investors will be further alert to the number of loans granted, one of the most important pillars of the strategy. ING aims at a growth of at least 3 percent on an annual basis. The prospects in this area for the new year are also particularly interesting, partly because of the less prosperous economic picture. Costs have also been a concern for ING for a while. The question is whether the bank is on track to meet the 2020 target. ING aims to set the costs against the benefits to a score between 50 and 52 percent.
