ING 4Q Missed Market Views; Net Profit Fell

By Sabela Ojea

ING Groep NV (ING) on Thursday reported a significant fall in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2019, reflecting increases in risk costs, expenses and effective tax rate.

The Dutch bank made a net profit of 880 million euros ($972.4 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31 compared with EUR1.27 billion for the same period a year earlier. This compares with a consensus forecast of EUR1.14 billion, taken from FactSet and based on the views of five analysts.

Underlying net profit also decreased to EUR880 million from EUR1.24 billion in the year-earlier period. Citi group said Monday that ING was forecast to report an underlying net attributable profit of EUR1.14 billion, which the U.S. bank attributed to a slightly better net interest income offsetting marginally worse costs and provisions.

The lender's underlying pretax profit--one of the bank's preferred metrics, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--was EUR1.34 billion compared with EUR1.69 billion for the fourth quarter of 2018. Underlying pretax profit was expected to be EUR1.62 billion, according to FactSet and based on three analysts' estimates.

Net interest income rose to EUR3.60 billion, while total underlying income fell to EUR4.44 billion from EUR4.50 billion.

ING's common equity Tier 1 ratio--a key measure of balance sheet strength--was 14.6%. Citi said Monday that the bank's CET1 ratio should come in at 14.8%.

The board declared a final dividend of 69 European cents a share, up from 68 cents for the prior year.

ING said its net core lending reached EUR2.0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared with EUR3.2 billion for the same period in 2018.

Write to Sabela Ojea at [e-mail]; @sabelaojeaguix

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 06, 2020 01:41 ET (06:41 GMT)

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