Highlights

Quarterly profit before tax increases 31% year-on-year to €2,247 million; CET1 ratio remains strong at 14.7%
Income up 11% year-on-year and net interest income holds up well in the quarter
Increase of 236,000 primary retail customers in the fourth quarter, combined with stable deposits and growth in lending
Low risk costs, reflecting strong asset quality and disciplined risk management
Full-year result before tax of €10,492 million, with strong contributions from both Retail and Wholesale Banking
Exceptional results in a year that was characterised by a rapid increase of interest rates and a benign economic environment
Retail Banking results supported by growth in primary customers, customer lending and deposits, and higher liability margins
Strong performance of Wholesale Banking with higher income and disciplined approach in de-risking and capital optimisation
Full-year return on equity rises to 14.8%; proposed final dividend of €0.756 per share, bringing total distribution to €7.8 billion*)
CEO statement
“In many respects 2023 was a challenging year, as geopolitical and economic shocks affected many of our clients and the societies we operate in. At the same time, most economies proved resilient with low unemployment, inflation coming down, and rates turning positive at an unprecedented pace. In that context, we were able to continue the successful execution of our strategy by increasing the number of customers, working to provide them with a superior customer experience, further improving our digital offerings and helping our clients in their sustainable transitions,” said CEO Steven van Rijswijk.

“We’re pleased to see that both Retail and Wholesale Banking contributed to our strong results, with net profit almost doubling to €7.3 billion and a full-year RoE of 14.8%. This was driven by higher net interest income and our continued low risk costs, reflecting our strong asset quality.

"In Retail Banking, we added 750,000 primary customers to reach a total of 15.3 million. Especially Germany, Spain and the Netherlands contributed to this growth. It’s rewarding to know our customers value our services, as evidenced by our number one position in net promoter score (NPS) in five of our 10 Retail markets. In a challenging housing market in many countries, we were able to grow our mortgage portfolio by €8 billion in 2023. And in a competitive savings market, our retail customer deposit base grew by more than €18 billion over the year.

“Our corporate clients continued to benefit from the global reach, knowledge and sector expertise of ING Wholesale Banking. We achieved an all-time high NPS score of 72, reflecting the high satisfaction of our clients across the globe. Our continued support of our clients resulted in double-digit income growth. Our focus on capital efficiency is also bearing fruit, reflected in a significant increase of income over capital deployed.

“As society transitions to a low-carbon economy, so do our clients and so does ING. Building on the outcome of COP28 and the most recent scientific insights and scenarios, we announced in December that we will speed up the phasing out of the financing of exploration and production of oil and gas, gradually bringing our portfolio to zero by 2040. We also aim to triple the financing of renewable energy to €7.5 billion annually by 2025, up from €2.5 billion in 2022.

“Engaging with corporates in their transition to more sustainable businesses is key to our climate approach. We developed a digital tool to collect public information on the transition plans of our clients, helping us see where we can or need to support them. In 2023, we already applied the tool for over 2,000 of our largest and most relevant Wholesale Banking clients. We're progressing well with introducing sustainable alternatives for key products in most of our Retail Banking markets.

“Looking ahead, we remain vigilant given the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties and remain focused on delivering value for all our stakeholders. We're confident that we’ll be able to continue to deliver a sustained return on equity of 12% as economic indicators further stabilise by building on our strong and growing customer base and our good performance. I would like to thank our clients for their trust and loyalty, our employees for their ongoing engagement and hard work in servicing our customers and our shareholders for continuing to support our strategy.”

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