ING Bank 3Q15 underlying net result EUR 1,092 million versus EUR 1,123 million in 3Q14 and EUR 1,118 million in 2Q15
· 3Q15 results driven by strong performance in Retail Banking, lower risk costs, growth in core lending and improved margins
· Risk costs declined on the back of economic recovery to EUR 261 million, or 34 basis points of average RWA
· Underlying return on IFRS-EU equity was 11.6% in 9M15, or 11.0% excluding CVA/DVA, in line with Ambition 2017 target range

ING Group 3Q15 net result EUR 1,064 million (EUR 0.28 per share) including legacy insurance results
· Further sell-down of shares in NN Group in September reduced stake to 25.8%; on track to meet full exit in 2016

Strong capital position: ING well placed to absorb regulatory impacts and achieve attractive capital return
· Robust fully-loaded CET1 ratios: ING Bank stable at 11.3% and ING Group unchanged at 12.3%

CEO statement
"ING recorded a successful third quarter during which we made good progress on our Think Forward priorities," said Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group. "We accelerated our innovation eff orts by establishing partnerships with financial technology companies, generating new ideas which will help us to further create a differentiating customer experience. At the same time our strengthened sustainability focus was recognised by leading external sustainability benchmarks in their annual reviews. In terms of financial performance, ING Bank delivered another solid quarter, with increased lending, lower risk costs and a continued strong capital position."

"ING is constantly looking to develop new and improved services for our customers. To complement our in-house capabilities and maximise the potential of relevant technologies, we are steadily investing in partnerships and other forms of cooperation with outside parties. An example of our continuous innovation and commitment to develop our SME business in a digital way is the strategic partnership we launched with Kabbage, a leading US-based technology platform that provides automated lending to SMEs, reducing the loan application and approval process to just a few minutes. In addition to taking a small equity stake in the company, we will run a pilot project with Kabbage in Spain. We are excited about bringing this technology to our customers. Furthermore, in both Belgium and the Netherlands, we have set up facilities where start-ups can experiment with their new business models, enabling us to share expertise and benefit from each other's creativity and innovative spirit."

"One of our key beliefs is that we should support and stimulate economic, social and environmental progress. I am proud that ING is again included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, with an improved score that is well above the banking industry average. ING also received a higher rating from Sustainalytics, where our score of 88 out of 100 made us the third best performer among the 409 reviewed international banks. These external assessments validate our sharpened sustainability focus, and the robustness of our strengthened environmental and social risk policies."

"ING Bank delivered another solid financial performance this quarter. The underlying result before tax was EUR 1,495 million, reflecting the continued positive momentum in both Retail and Commercial Banking. Risk costs decreased on both comparable quarters, particularly in Retail Netherlands where evidence of the economic recovery is now clearly visible in our risk costs. While this is encouraging, we remain vigilant for any potential impact that imbalances in emerging economies and financial markets could have on our clients and business units."

"Net interest income improved on the back of continued growth in our core lending businesses and a slightly improved interest margin. We remain committed to supporting our clients' lending needs. Notwithstanding reductions in the mature Benelux markets, we grew our core lending portfolio by EUR 1.6 billion in the third quarter, driven mainly by Retail Challengers and Growth Markets and Industry Lending. Year-to-date, total customer lending in the core portfolio grew by EUR 17.2 billion, or 4.5% on an annualised basis. Despite higher regulatory costs in the quarter and a significant impairment on an equity stake, the Bank's underlying return on IFRS-EU equity was 11.2% for the quarter and 11.6% year-to-date, which lies in the middle of our Ambition 2017 target range."

"ING Bank's fully-loaded CET1 ratio remained stable at 11.3%. The ING Group CET1 ratio was also unchanged at 12.3%, which figure does not include interim profits - for the second quarter in a row. In the third quarter we reduced our stake in NN Group to 25.8%. The regulatory environment remains uncertain. However, with our capital strength, we are well positioned to deliver shareholder returns while we invest in further innovation of the products and services that empower our customers."

Further information
All publications related to ING's 3Q15 results can be found at www.ing.com/3q15, including a video interview with Ralph Hamers, which is also available at YouTube.

Additional financial information is available at www.ing.com/qr:
- ING Group Historical Trend Data
- ING Group Analyst Presentation (also available via SlideShare)
- ING Group Condensed consolidated interim financial information for the period ended 30 September 2015.

For further information on ING, please visit www.ing.com. Frequent news updates can be found in the Newsroom or via the @ING_news twitter feed. Photos of ING operations, buildings and its executives are available for download at Flickr. Video is available on YouTube. Footage (B-roll) of ING is available via videobankonline.com, or can be requested by emailing info@videobankonline.com. ING presentations are available at SlideShare.

See also ing.world, ING Group's online magazine, which can be found in the About Us section on www.ing.com

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