million) in the third quarter, its first-ever quarterly loss, after
write-downs totalled €1.5 billion. The bancassurance giant had
already flagged up the probable loss back in October before
agreeing to a €10 billion cash injection by the Dutch government.
ING Group net profit year-to-date is now €2.98 billion versus €6.76
billion for the first nine months of 2007.
CEO Michel Tilmant said: “As we approach the end of 2008,
markets continue to be turbulent while weakening economic
conditions will put pressure on results into 2009.”
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In terms of retail banking, an area ING has pushed into over the
past few years with deals in markets like China, Romania, Turkey
and Thailand as well as a €1 billion upgrade of its Dutch
franchise, earnings figures were down substantially.
Its retail banking unit’s underlying profit before tax declined
35.5 percent to €420 million; ING Direct, with a Japanese licence
still pending, dropped 140 percent to record a loss of €47 million
off the back of severe impairments of €217 million on ING Direct’s
investment portfolio.
During the quarter, ING said people worldwide became “more
active in re-allocating their account balances among multiple
financial institutions” to maximise protection from government
guarantees. ING Direct added 455,000 new clients as a result, an
increase of 13 percent over the second quarter, bringing the total
number of customers to 21.7 million. ING Direct’s total client
retail balances increased to €330 billion as of the end of
September.
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