Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
November 07, 2013 at 06:40 AM
AMSTERDAM (AP) — ING Groep NV saw its third-quarter profit fall sharply after it booked a loss on the sale of operations in South Korea.
However the company’s new chief executive said Wednesday profits on an underlying basis were stable and that the company is close to repaying rescue money it received from the Dutch state in times of crisis in 2008 and 2009.
Jan Hommen, the executive who stepped in after the bailouts to oversee ING’s restructuring, retired on Oct. 1. His replacement, Ralph Hamers, said Wednesday that ING is “grateful” for the taxpayer money.
Net profit for the quarter was €101 million ($136 million), down from €659 million in the same period a year ago. During the quarter, it booked a €950 million loss on the sale of its South Korean insurance arm. Underlying profits, which exclude tax and one-time items, were €891 million, up 5.6 percent.
ING received €10 billion of state aid in 2008. It has been steadily shedding operations and repaying that debt, plus interest, ever since. On Wednesday it repaid €1.13 billion, leaving it with a remaining tab of €1.5 billion.
Investors appeared impressed by the underlying performance and the pledge to repay the bailout cash and the company’s share price was trading 4.4 percent higher at €9.68 in early trading in Amsterdam.
