ING to Pay First Dividend Since Crisis -- Update

By Maarten van Tartwijk 

AMSTERDAM--Dutch bank ING Groep NV said Wednesday that it would pay its first dividend since the global financial crisis of 2008 as it reported a sharp rise in fourth-quarter net profit.

Amsterdam-based ING said it would pay a cash dividend of EUR470 million ($532 million), or EUR0.12 a share, and reiterated its aim to pay shareholders 40% of annual net profit from 2015 on.

ING was able to restart dividends after repaying the final chunk of state aid it received at the height of the financial crisis in 2008. The lender has also nearly completed a radical overhaul that transformed it into a smaller and better capitalized Europe-focused bank.

ING reported fourth-quarter net profit of EUR1.18 billion compared with EUR626 million in the same period a year earlier, lifted by stronger earnings at its NN Group NV and Voya Financial Inc. insurance businesses that are being sold.

Its underlying pretax profit, which excludes the impact of divestments and other special items, fell 13% to EUR783 million, slightly below analyst expectations.

Earnings were pressured by EUR375 million in restructuring costs for ING's retail bank in the Netherlands and its wholesale division, and by a EUR138 million charge for an annual bank tax introduced by the Dutch government in the wake of the financial crisis.

Provisions against bad loans fell 29% to EUR400 million and ING said they are approaching "normalized levels," after peaking during the economic crisis in the Netherlands.

Write to Maarten van Tartwijk at [e-mail]

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