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The call communicated multiple strong operational and financial achievements — including robust customer acquisition (>1 million annually), double‑digit fee growth (15% FY, 22% Q4 YoY), record total income for the third consecutive year, solid NII (EUR 15.3 billion) and upgraded 2026–2027 guidance — underpinning upgraded profitability and continued shareholder distributions. At the same time, management disclosed several risks and challenges: notable Stage‑3 provisioning and elevated risk costs in Q4, a quarter‑on‑quarter decline in CET1 driven by distributions and RWA increases, deposit‑to‑loan mix pressure (loan growth outpacing deposits), cost/inflationary headwinds and uncertainty around liability margin pass‑through and treasury hedging income. Overall, the positive momentum, upgraded outlook and strong capital and shareholder return actions outweigh the listed headwinds, while the bank acknowledges and is taking steps to manage the highlighted risks.
ING guided to total income of around EUR 24 billion in 2026 (assumed customer balance growth ~5% p.a., fees +5–10%, liability margin at the lower end of 100–110 bps, lending margin broadly stable and “other income” ~2.8 billion ex‑incidentals), with operating cost measures cited as EUR 12.6–12.8 billion excluding incidentals (and, more narrowly, EUR 11.6–11.8 billion excluding incidentals and regulatory items), a CET1 target of ~13% and returns of ROE 14% and ROTE >14% (2025 ROTE delta ~40 bps); for 2027 management upgraded targets to total income >EUR 25 billion (fees >EUR 5 billion), operating expenses excl. incidentals around EUR 13 billion, ROE 15% and ROTE >15%, while maintaining a 50% payout policy, continuing SRTs (expected to add ~15–20 bps to CET1 in 2026), and executing additional distributions/share buybacks (EUR 3.6 billion announced, EUR 500 million paid, buyback completing Apr 2026) with a proposed final cash dividend of EUR 0.736 per share.
Added >350,000 mobile primary customers in Q4 and over 1 million customers for the full year; core deposits rose EUR 38.1 billion (+5.5% year‑on‑year) and Q4 retail deposits contributed EUR 11.3 billion, driven by targeted campaigns and seasonal inflows.
Absolute loan growth doubled versus the prior year, resulting in an 8.3% increase since the start of the year; net core lending in Q4 increased by EUR 20.4 billion (Retail +EUR 10.1 billion, Wholesale +EUR 10.3 billion), driven mainly by residential mortgages and stronger wholesale lending demand.
Commercial NII remained very strong at EUR 15.3 billion for 2025; commercial NII grew almost 5% year‑on‑year in Q4 and increased more than EUR 100 million quarter‑on‑quarter.
Fee income grew 15% for the full year and accounted for 20% of total income; Q4 fee growth was 22% year‑on‑year (17% excluding a EUR 66 million one‑off in Germany), supported by investment product uptake (9% growth in customers, 16% AUM growth, 22% more trades) and insurance/daily banking fees.
Total income reached a record level for the third consecutive year and Q4 total income was +7% versus prior year; full‑year net profit exceeded EUR 6.3 billion and return on equity for 2025 was 13.2%, above start‑of‑year guidance.
Delivered strong capital generation (contributing almost 2 percentage points to CET1) with 50% of EUR 6.3 billion profit distributed as regular cash dividends; additional distributions totaling EUR 3.6 billion announced, a share buyback underway, and 2025 share price rose by ~60%.
2026 guidance: total income ~EUR 24 billion, fee income +5–10%, ROE ~14% and ROTE >14%; 2027 outlook: total income >EUR 25 billion, fee income >EUR 5 billion, operating expenses (ex‑incidentals) ~EUR 13 billion, ROE ~15% and ROTE >15%.
Improved operational leverage: FTE over customer balances ratio improved by >7% since 2023; increased straight‑through processing and chatbot/gen AI deployment reduced manual intervention, improved NPS (Retail #1 in 5/10 markets, Wholesale NPS 77) and are expected to drive further cost efficiencies.
Good morning. This is Laura, welcoming you to ING's 4Q 2025 Conference Call. Before handing this conference call over to Steven van Rijswijk, Chief Executive Officer of ING Group, let me first say that today's comments may include forward-looking statements such as statements regarding future developments in our business, expectations for our future financial performance and any statement not involving a historical fact. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. A discussion of factors that may cause actual results to differ from those in any forward-looking statement is contained in our public filings, including our most recent annual report on Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and our earnings press release as posted on our website today. Furthermore, nothing in today's comments constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Good morning, Steven. Over to you.
Thank you very much, operator. Good morning, and welcome to our results call for the fourth quarter of 2025. I hope you're all well, and thank you for joining us today. As usual, I'm joined by our CRO, Ljiljana Cortan; and our CFO, Tanate Phutrakul. And today, I'm proud to walk you through another year of outstanding commercial growth and financial performance driven by [audio gap] and I will also share our updated and upgraded outlook for 2027, which further underlines the strength and resilience of our business. After that, Tanate will give you more insight into our income and cost expectatio...