ING records 1Q14 underlying net profit of EUR 988 million

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ING Group 1Q14 underlying net profit of EUR 988 million from EUR 1,170 million in 1Q13 and EUR 493 million in 4Q13
-	1Q14 net result EUR -1,917 million, reflecting the deconsolidation of Voya and the impact of the Dutch pension fund changes
Bank 1Q14 underlying result before tax of EUR 1,176 million, roughly flat vs. 1Q13 but up 30.1% sequentially
-	1Q14 results driven by an increase in the net interest margin and a lower level of risk costs as economic conditions improved
-	10.1% fully-loaded CET1 ratio after payment to Dutch State and making closed defined benefit pension plan in NL independent
-	ING Bank attracted EUR 8.3 billion of funds entrusted and grew net lending by EUR 5.1 billion during the quarter
NN Group 1Q14 operating result ongoing business of EUR 274 million, up 61.2% vs. 1Q13 and 28.0% from 4Q13
-	1Q14 operating result ongoing business driven by solid results in Netherlands Life and Netherlands Non-life and lower expenses
-	Result before tax of EUR -372 million, reflecting impact of making ING's closed defined benefit pension plan in NL independent
-	New sales grew 20.6% vs. 1Q13 and 53.0% vs. 4Q13, at constant currencies; the latter driven mainly by seasonally high 1Q14
ING Group secures pre-IPO investments of EUR 1.275 billion and agrees final capital structure for NN Group
-	ING Group secures a total of EUR 1.275 billion in pre-IPO investments from three investors ahead of NN Group's intended IPO
-	EUR 850 million capital injection finalises capital structure; ING Group confirms intended IPO to comprise only secondary offering
-	Capital injection and issuance of subordinated debt will increase the IGD ratio of NN Group to a pro-forma 277%

Chairman's Statement
"ING Group made a strong start to 2014, posting a first-quarter underlying net result of EUR 988 million while demonstrating good commercial growth," said Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group. "At the same time, we reached significant milestones in our restructuring plan and sharpened the strategic priorities of our businesses to ensure they remain sustainable and competitive."

"In March, we presented our 'Think Forward' strategy for ING Bank, which outlines the actions we are taking to secure our future as a European banking leader, along with a focused set of financial targets for 2017. The core of our strategy is to create a differentiating customer experience. Our dedication to achieving high levels of customer satisfaction is evident in our most recent net promoter scores, which indicate that ING Bank is number one relative to its competitors in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Australia, and is number two in all other core markets. We are proud of this recognition from our customers and will continue to serve them as best as we can. Our new Chief Operations Officer will certainly help to advance our efforts." 

"ING Bank posted a solid first-quarter underlying pre-tax result of EUR 1,176 million, reflecting an increase in the net interest margin and lower risk costs as economic conditions improved. Our consistent customer focus has enabled us to attract EUR 8.3 billion of funds entrusted across our franchise and to extend EUR 5.1 billion of net lending during the quarter. We are committed to supporting our customers' financial needs and will continue to grow lending through the economic recovery." 

"Continued capital generation at ING Bank enabled us to make a penultimate EUR 1.225 billion payment to the Dutch State in March, bringing the total paid to the State since 2008 to EUR 12.5 billion. The capital position of ING Bank remained strong, with a fully-loaded CET1 ratio of 10.1% at the end of the quarter. The first-quarter underlying return on IFRS-EU equity rose to 10.2%, within the range of our Ambition 2017 target." 

"At NN Group, the first-quarter operating result for the ongoing business was EUR 274 million, a significant improvement compared with both a year ago and the previous quarter, driven by solid results in the core Dutch businesses and lower expenses across the organisation. Commercial momentum was strong, with sales rising 20.6% year-on-year and 53.0% sequentially, at constant currencies. ING Group made significant progress in finalising its preparations for the intended IPO of NN Group, announcing last week transactions to secure important investments from three firms. Today, we announce measures to strengthen the company's standalone capital structure with a further EUR 850 million and confirm that the intended IPO will comprise only secondary shares." 

"In April, ING U.S. started operating under the name Voya Financial, Inc. representing a new era for the company. We have reduced our stake in Voya to approximately 43%, fulfilling the requirement to divest more than 50% of this business by year-end. Although deconsolidating Voya brought us a step further in our strategic transformation, it also triggered a EUR 2,005 million after-tax loss. This impact, together with a EUR -1,059 million charge for successfully completing the Dutch closed defined benefit pension plan agreement and a EUR 202 million gain following the deconsolidation of ING Vysya Bank, led to the Group's quarterly net loss."

ING Group key figures
	1Q2014	1Q20131	Change	4Q20131	Change
Profit and loss data (in EUR million)
Underlying result before tax	1,176	1,169	0.6%	904	30.1%
Operating result ongoing business NN Group	274	170	61.2%	214	28.0%
Non-operating items ongoing business NN Group	-28	15		-117
Japan Closed Block VA	-36	162	-122.2%	-423	n.a.
Underlying result before tax Insurance Other	-2	95		4
Underlying result before tax ING  Group	1,384	1,611	-14.1%	582	137.8%
Underlying net result ING Group	988	1,170	-15.6%	493	100.4%
Net gains/losses on divestments	-1,764	939		-38
Net result from divested units		-38
Net result from discontinued operations Insurance/IM Asia	5	66		33
Net result from discontinued operations Voya Financial ,Inc.	53	-195		179
Special items	-1,200	-47		-40
Net result	-1,917	1,897	-201.0%	626	-406.2%
Net result per share (in EUR)2	-0.50	0.50	-200.0%	0.16	-412.5%
Capital ratios (end of period)
Shareholders' equity (in EUR billion)	45	54	-16.1%	46	-0.9%
ING Group debt/equity ratio	7.3%	10.8%		8.5%
Bank common equity Tier 1 ratio phased in	10.0%	n.a.		10.8%
Bank common equity Tier 1 ratio fully-loaded	10.1%	n.a.		10.0%
NN Group IGD Solvency I ratio	249%	254%		254%
Other data (end of period)
Underlying return on equity based on IFRS-EU equity3	8.7%	8.9%		4.1%
Employees (FTEs, end of period, adjusted for divestments)	75,606	76,868	-1.6%	76,050	-0.6%

1 The figures of this period have been restated to reflect the change in accounting policy, i.e. the move towards fair value accounting for Guaranteed Minimum Death Benefits reserves of the Japan Closed Block VA as of 1 January 2014

2 Result per share differs from IFRS earnings per share in respect of attributions to the core Tier 1 securities.

3 Annualised underlying net result divided by average IFRS-EU equity.

Note: underlying figures and operating results are non-GAAP measures. These are derived from figures according to IFRS-EU by excluding impact from divestments,  discontinued operations and special items and, for Operating Results only, gains/losses and impairments, revaluations and market & other impacts.

Investor conference call, media conference call and webcasts

Ralph Hamers, Patrick Flynn and Wilfred Nagel will discuss the results in an analyst and investor conference call on 7 May 2014 at 9:00 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.

Ralph Hamers, Patrick Flynn and Wilfred Nagel will also discuss the results in a press conference call on 7 May 2014 at 11:00 a.m. CET. Journalists can join the conference call at [phone] (NL) or [phone] (UK) and via live audio webcast at www.ing.com.

Investor enquiries

T: [phone]

E: [e-mail]

Press enquiries

T: [phone]

E: [e-mail]

Additional information is available in the following documents which can be downloaded from around 7:00 am CET at www.ing.com/qr:
-	ING Group Results Full Press Release in PDF
-	ING Group Analyst Presentation
-	ING Group Quarterly Report
-	ING Group Historical Trend Data
-	Condensed consolidated interim financial information for the period ended 31 March 2014

Information for editors

A video interview with Ralph Hamers is available at http://www.youtube.com/ING and www.ing.com

Footage (B-roll) of ING and quotes from the interview can be downloaded via www.videobankonline.com, or requested by emailing [e-mail].

The ING Group 1Q2014 Analyst Presentations is also available at www.slideshare.net/ING

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 1Q2014 ING Group Interim Accounts.

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. This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction. The securities of NN Group have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act.

PDF version of full ING Group 1Q14 results press release

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Source: ING Group via Globenewswire

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