ING first quarter underlying pretax profit up 39%, beats expectations

ING Groep, the largest Dutch financial services company, reported on Wednesday a better than expected first-quarter underlying pretax profit of 1.65 billion euros, up 39 percent from a year ago.

Analysts polled for Reuters had seen underlying pretax profit figure at 1.45 billion euros, up from 1.19 billion in the same period of 2016.

The company cited growth of 5.7 billion euros in core lending and 6.7 billion euros in new customer deposits, even as bad loans fell.

ING has been winning customers, notably in Germany, on the strength of its mobile telephone banking software, and limiting its costs by building few branch offices in the countries where it is expanding.

The results reflect “continued loan growth, good cost control and relatively low-risk costs,” CEO Ralph Hamers said in a statement. “Wholesale Banking’s contribution was particularly strong, led by higher income from Financial Markets and commissions.”