ING, the biggest Dutch bank, on Thursday said it had picked up hundreds of thousands of new clients since the start of the year, allowing it to post a massive profit rise. Net earnings for the third quarter rose by 26.8 percent to 1.35 billion euros ($1.5 billion) from the same period a year earlier, it said in a statement. Analysts said this was above expectations.
ING, which has announced 7,000 job cuts in the Netherlands and Belgium over the next five years, saw operating overheads diminish by 1.2 percent over the three-month period. The bank has attracted 400,000 new customers since the start of the year, leading to a 3.6-billion-euro increase in loan volumes. Despite a low interest rate context, it managed "healthy margins" on those loans, as well as a 15.5 percent rise in commissions and charges. Deposits rose by two billion euros, it said.