ING posts 1Q2025 net result of €1,455 million, with strong growth in customer balances and fee income

CEO statement

“While the geopolitical and macroeconomic circumstances remain uncertain, we believe there is an opportunity for Europe to collectively drive competitiveness and resilience through simplification of regulations and investments in infrastructure, technology and defence,” said Steven van Rijswijk, CEO of ING Group. “As one of the largest and most geographically diversified European banks, we are well-positioned to play a key role in supporting this growth while navigating volatility. During these times, we are staying particularly close to our clients to understand their concerns and banking needs. Our scale, strong performance and robust capital ratios enable us to provide our customers with the support required to manage uncertainties, mitigate risks and capture opportunities.

“During the first quarter of 2025, we have delivered continued commercial growth, driven by excellent growth in deposits and higher mortgage volumes. Total income has increased, supported by resilient commercial net interest income and a strong increase in fee income. Expenses have decreased slightly quarter-on-quarter and the increase year-on-year was in line with our guidance, reflecting the impact of inflation and client acquisition expenses. Risk costs were €313 million and below our through-the-cycle-average, reflecting the quality of our loan portfolio.

“In Retail Banking, our mobile primary customer base has grown by 174,000 customers this quarter, mainly attributable to Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland. We have attracted €17 billion in retail core deposits, primarily in Germany. And we have increased core lending by €9 billion, of which €6 billion is in residential mortgages, particularly in the Netherlands and Germany, and nearly €2 billion in Business Banking. Across our markets, we have seen 125,000 mortgage applications during this quarter, up 20% year-on-year. Retail fee income has risen 18% year-on-year, primarily driven by growth in the number of investment product customers, higher assets under management and an increase in customer trading activity.

“In Wholesale Banking, total income was stable, with strong results in Financial Markets as we have supported our clients during the turbulent market conditions. This turbulence has also led to muted lending volumes. Fee income in Wholesale Banking has increased quarter-on-quarter, mainly driven by higher fees from Global Capital Markets and Trade Finance. Moreover, we have continued to invest in front office growth, our digital customer experience and the scalability of our systems.

“We continue to support clients in their sustainability transition by launching innovative services or by entering into partnerships. In Wholesale Banking, we have increased sustainable volume mobilised to €30 billion, a 23% increase versus last year. In Spain, we have launched a service that helps retail customers get insights into their CO2e emissions and provides tips on how to reduce their environmental footprint. In Australia, ING has become the first bank to participate in a new digital energy ratings programme that provides our customers with free energy ratings of their homes and identifies potential sustainability improvements.

“We continue to converge our CET1 ratio to our target level while taking the ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty into account. In that light, today we announce a share buyback programme of €2.0 billion.

“We’re pleased with our first-quarter performance and are confident in our ability to deliver value to our stakeholders in the current macroeconomic turbulence. We are well on track to meet our 2027 targets and I would like to thank our employees across the world for their contributions to these strong results and their commitment to serving our customers.”