ING announces new billion-euro share buyback plan after strong Q1 results
ING is planning to buy back roughly one billion euros in stock from its shareholders after seeing strong growth in its profits during the first three months of the year, the Dutch bank said on Thursday. The bank's first quarter profits were nearly 7 percent higher than a year earlier, with the recent period adding nearly 1.6 billion euros in profit to the bottom line.
Between the share buyback and the profit growth, the bank's share price jumped to 24.55 euros shortly after trading began on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. The stock closed at 23.88 euros at the end of trading on Wednesday.
The bank is doing well, despite geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty, said CEO Steven van Rijswijk. The new plan to reacquire company stock was announced just as the bank completed another round over the past six months, in which it paid 1.1 billion euros to purchase over 47 million shares at an average price of 23.46 euros.
The bank said it still expects to meet year-end projections, after reporting first quarter interest income growth of 12 percent, strong results from mortgages and other loans, and more revenue from commissions. More retail bank customers in Germany, Spain, and Poland are also choosing ING for their primary accounts, and its retail clients are also using ING to make investments, the bank said.
ING said it is continuing to deliver money to its shareholders via buybacks and dividends, outperforming many major European banks. The conflicts in the Middle East have not directly ING thus far, though the bank is concerned its business clients in a broad range of sectors could experience economic turbulence.
They are likely to face increased fuel prices, higher energy costs, and supply chain disruptions, Van Rijswijk said, reaffirming earlier warnings from the bank's analysts. The company is preparing for potential macroeconomic problems by adding 346 million euros to its earmark for unpaid loans.
The new share buyback is also a way the bank can prepare for future issues, even though the Van Rijswijk said it is too soon to draw any conclusions about the impact of geopolitical tumult.
The bank wants to purchase another billion euros in stock to maintain a Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio at roughly 13 percent, one of the buffers banks are required to hold as a defense against a future financial crisis. ING Group is currently required to carry a CET1 ratio of 11.06 percent. "The share buyback programme will commence on 30 April 2026 and is expected to end no later than 26 October 2026.
