ING posts 2012 underlying net profit of EUR 2,603 million

• ING Group's full-year 2012 net result was EUR 3,894 million, or EUR 1.03 per share, including divestments, discontinued operations and special items. The 4Q12 net result was EUR 1,434 million, or EUR 0.38 per share. The 4Q12 underlying net result was EUR 373 million, reflecting a solid quarter at Insurance and lower Bank results due to incidental items and the Dutch bank tax.
   
• Bank 4Q12 underlying result before tax was EUR 184 million, reflecting negative CVA/DVA adjustments, de-risking losses and the Dutch bank tax. The interest margin was relatively stable at 1.33% versus 3Q12 while risk costs increased slightly to EUR 588 million.
   

Insurance 4Q12 operating result improved versus 3Q12 to EUR 296 million as the investment spread strengthened to 132 bps. Sales grew 12.7% from 4Q11 and 23.6% from 3Q12 at constant currencies. Underlying result before tax rose to EUR 272 million.

Chairman's Statement
"2012 was a transformational year for ING as we worked decisively on the restructuring of the Group, preparing the Bank and Insurance companies for independent futures," said Jan Hommen, CEO of ING Group. "In the fourth quarter we announced two major divestments of our Asian Insurance/IM businesses. We filed the IPO registration statement for our US insurance business, and we reached an agreement with the European Commission which gives us more time and greater flexibility for restructuring. The Bank made strides in optimising its balance sheet and generating capital to meet Basel III requirements while funding a payment of EUR 1.125 billion to the Dutch State and upstreaming an additional EUR 1 billion to the Group to reduce core debt."

"Results for the year held up well, despite the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and weak economic climate which persisted throughout 2012. Underlying net results for the Group were EUR 2,603 million, down just 5.2% from 2011, despite EUR 626 million of de-risking losses at the Bank, a EUR 175 million Dutch bank tax, and higher loan losses as the economy weakened. At Insurance, de-risking and low interest rates put pressure on investment returns, but underlying results recovered as market-related items diminished."

"As the environment around us changes, ING is also evolving as we work to meet our customers' rapidly changing needs and to achieve operational excellence. In the Netherlands as well as in Belgium, we have made great progress in improving service and investing in IT as customers move swiftly towards mobile banking. As our business model evolves, so must our organisation. Retail Banking Netherlands is expanding the transformation programme started in 2011, leading to approximately 1,400 additional redundancies by the end of 2015 and reducing expenses by an additional EUR 120 million per annum from 2016 onwards. At ING Bank in Belgium, employee headcount is expected to decline by 1,000 FTEs by 2015, through natural attrition, leading to EUR 150 million in annual cost savings by 2015. These initiatives come on top of measures announced in Commercial Banking and Insurance Europe last quarter. Combined, all of these programmes accounted for EUR 452 million in after-tax restructuring provisions booked in 2012, but they are essential to drive future performance, reducing annual expenses by a combined EUR 1 billion by 2015."

"Amid all of the changes we are going through, our employees have demonstrated consistent dedication and commitment to keeping our customers' needs paramount. As we embark on 2013, the economic climate remains challenging, and we must be agile to respond quickly to the dynamic environment so that we can deliver sustainable results for the long-term benefit of all stakeholders."

Key Figures1
	4Q2012	4Q2011	Change	3Q2012	Change	FY2012	FY2011	Change
ING Group key figures (in EUR million)
Underlying result before tax Group	455	-849		1,028	-55.7%	3,530	3,803	-7.2%
of which Bank	184	664	-72.3%	983	-81.3%	3,219	4,128	-22.0%
of which Insurance	272	-1,513		44	518.2%	311	-325
Underlying net result	373	-785		692	-46.1%	2,603	2,746	-5.2%
Net result	1,434	1,186	20.9%	609	135.5%	3,894	5,766	-32.5%
Net result per share (in EUR)2	0.38	0.31	22.6%	0.16	137.5%	1.03	1.52	-32.2%
Total assets (end of period, in EUR billion)				1,248	-6.4%	1,169	1,279	-8.6%
Shareholders' equity (end of period, in EUR billion)				53	2.8%	54	47	16.5%
Underlying return on equity based on IFRS-EU equity3	2.8%	-6.9%		5.4%		5.2%	6.5%
Banking key figures
Interest margin	1.33%	1.38%		1.34%		1.32%	1.38%
Underlying cost/income ratio	75.7%	66.8%		58.8%		62.5%	61.8%
Underlying risk costs in bp of average RWA	84	62		76		73	48
Core Tier 1 ratio				12.1%		11.9%	9.6%
Underlying return on equity based on IFRS-EU equity3	0.3%	5.7%		7.6%		5.9%	8.8%
Insurance key figures
Operating result (in EUR million)	296	349	-15.2%	237	24.9%	1,095	1,658	-34.0%
Investment margin/life general account invested assets (in bps) 4	132	129		130
Administrative expenses / operating income (Life & ING IM)	46.5%	46.2%		47.6%		47.5%	43.3%
Underlying return on equity based on IFRS-EU equity3	5.1%	-22.2%		-0.2%		1.8%	-1.1%

The footnotes relating to 1-4 can be found on page 14 of the full press release as attached to this message.
Note: Underlying figures are non-GAAP measures and are derived from figures according to IFRS-EU by excluding impact from divestments and special items.

Press conference, investor conference call and webcasts

Jan Hommen, Patrick Flynn and Wilfred Nagel will discuss the results in a press conference on 13 February 2013 at 09:00 a.m. CET. Journalists are invited to join the conference at ING Amsterdamse Poort, Bijlmerplein 888, Amsterdam. Journalists can also join in listen-only mode at [phone] (NL) or [phone] (UK) and via live audio webcast at www.ing.com. Jan Hommen, Patrick Flynn and Wilfred Nagel will also discuss the results in an analyst and investor conference call on 13 February 2013 at 10:30 a.m. CET. Members of the investment community can join the conference call at [phone] (NL), [phone] (UK) or [phone] (US) and via live audio webcast at www.ing.com.

Investor enquiries

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Additional information is available in the following documents which can be downloaded from around 00 am CET from the following links at www.ing.com:

ING Group 4Q2012 Results (PDF)

ING Group 4Q2012 Results Analyst Presentation (PDF)

ING Group 4Q2012 Results Media Presentation (PDF)

ING Group 4Q2012 Results Quarterly Report (PDF)

ING Group 4Q2012 Results Group Statistical Supplement (PDF) (XLS)

ING Group 4Q2012 Results Historical Trend Data (PDF) (XLS)

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION

ING Group's Annual Accounts are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union ('IFRS-EU').

In preparing the financial information in this document, the same accounting principles are applied as in the 2011 ING Group Annual Accounts. All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible in the tables due to rounding.

Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular economic conditions in ING's core markets, (2) changes in performance of financial markets, including developing markets, (3) consequences of a potential (partial) break-up of the euro, (4) the implementation of ING's restructuring plan to separate banking and insurance operations, (5) changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, sources of liquidity such as interbank funding, as well as conditions in the credit markets generally, including changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness, (6) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, (7) changes affecting mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (8) changes affecting persistency levels, (9) changes affecting interest rate levels, (10) changes affecting currency exchange rates, (11) changes in investor, customer and policyholder behaviour, (12) changes in general competitive factors, (13) changes in laws and regulations, (14) changes in the policies of governments and/or regulatory authorities, (15) conclusions with regard to purchase accounting assumptions and methodologies, (16) changes in ownership that could affect the future availability to us of net operating loss, net capital and built-in loss carry forwards, (17) changes in credit-ratings, (18) ING's ability to achieve projected operational synergies and (19) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Risk Factors section contained in the most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V. Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of ING speak only as of the date they are made, and, ING assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or for any other reason. This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

PDF version of full press release

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