ING Group Q1 Earnings Call Highlights

ING Group NYSE: ING reported what management described as a “very strong” start to 2026, pointing to continued commercial momentum across retail and wholesale banking, higher fee income, and ongoing capital generation that supported another share repurchase program.

Management highlights: growth strategy “resilient” amid uncertainty

Chief Executive Officer Steven van Rijswijk said the first quarter unfolded against “geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty,” but argued the results again demonstrated the resilience of ING’s business and clients. He said ING maintained strong momentum coming out of 2025, “more than absorbing the seasonal effects” of the first quarter.

Van Rijswijk highlighted several operating metrics, including:

• Mobile primary customers rising by 125,000 in the quarter, keeping the bank on track for its target of adding 1 million mobile primary customers in 2026.
• Loan growth at an annualized pace of more than 8%, including 9.4% growth in retail banking during the quarter.
• Wholesale Banking loan growth of EUR 5.6 billion while keeping risk-weighted assets “broadly stable.”
• Fee income up 13% year-over-year.
• Return on tangible equity (ROTE) of 13.6% for the quarter.

He also said sustainable volume mobilized increased 11% year-over-year.

Customer growth and product expansion

Van Rijswijk attributed commercial growth primarily to customer experience, citing a “leading Net Promoter Score in most of our retail markets,” and said the bank is seeing deeper relationships as more customers choose ING as their primary bank. He also pointed to product expansion as a driver of more diversified revenues, noting the recent launch of business banking in Italy and the rollout of an insurance broker model in the Netherlands to integrate insurance into the mobile app.

In mortgages, van Rijswijk said ING benefits from “continued strong market fundamentals,” citing low unemployment rates and a resilient outlook in its largest markets. He added that Wholesale Banking is positioned to support Europe’s strategic priorities, with expertise in areas including infrastructure and TMT, and pointed to ING’s position as a “top 3 MLA and bookrunner in Europe,” as well as its debt capital markets franchise.

Scalability, AI deployment, and cost discipline

Van Rijswijk emphasized scalability as a core element of the strategy, describing ING as having “a long track record of digitalization,” with the majority of key customer journeys “fully straight-through” without human intervention. He said ING’s global hubs network houses 27% of tech employees and 40% of operations staff, and described the bank’s tech platform and private cloud as foundational for scaling AI.

Among the AI-related metrics he cited:

• More than 90% of AI pilots moved into production.
• More than 75% of customer chats resolved by AI without human support.
• More than 7 million customers receiving hyper-personalized marketing campaigns.
• “Agentic mortgages” live in the Netherlands and planned for rollout to other countries.

Over the past 12 months, he said mobile primary customers grew nearly 7%, customer balances rose more than 5%, investment product volumes increased more than 15%, and fee income rose 15.6%. Over the same period, he said full-time equivalents declined 0.6% and cost growth was limited to 2%, which he framed as evidence that commercial growth is outpacing incremental costs.

Financial performance: higher NII and fees, volatility hit “all other income”

New Chief Financial Officer Ida Lerner, who joined on April 1, said commercial net interest income (NII) continued an upward trend from the second half of 2025, supported by volume growth, disciplined pricing, and a hedging tailwind on replicated customer deposits. Fee income also rose, driven by customer growth and performance in investment products and wholesale banking.

However, Lerner said “all other income” was affected by heightened market volatility toward the end of the quarter, which produced IFRS asymmetry effects that she said “should come back over time.” Overall, she said total income increased 3% year-over-year as strong customer activity and volume growth outweighed the weaker “all other income” line.

On balances, Lerner reported:

• Net core lending increased EUR 15 billion, including EUR 9.4 billion in retail banking and EUR 5.6 billion in wholesale banking.
• Retail lending growth was driven by mortgages with strong production in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Australia, alongside “particularly strong” business banking performance mainly in the Netherlands and Poland.
• Core deposits increased EUR 7.2 billion, including EUR 4.3 billion in retail banking and EUR 2.9 billion in wholesale banking.

Commercial NII increased EUR 132 million quarter-over-quarter and was 7% higher year-over-year. Lerner said liability NII rose EUR 91 million quarter-over-quarter, reflecting volume growth and a 5 basis point increase in liability margin, which she tied to hedging tailwinds and an absence of large savings campaigns during the quarter. She cautioned investors not to expect a similar 5 basis point increase every quarter.

Based on the first-quarter performance and “higher than expected volume growth,” Lerner said ING now expects full-year commercial NII of EUR 16.5 billion to EUR 16.7 billion.

Fee income rose 13% year-over-year, with Lerner calling out broad-based growth across products and markets. In retail banking, she described investment products as a “record quarter,” supported by 8% growth in customers with an investment account, 15% growth in assets under management and administration (about half from net inflows), and 13% more trades amid higher volatility late in the quarter. Wholesale banking fee income rose 11% year-over-year.

Lerner said “all other income” was negatively affected by volatility-driven hedge ineffectiveness and financial markets activities, reiterating that hedge ineffectiveness is “account driven and should reverse over time.” She guided that “all other income” for the full year is expected to be between EUR 2.5 billion and EUR 2.7 billion, slightly below a normal run rate.

Risk, capital, and shareholder distributions

Expenses excluding regulatory costs and incidental items rose 1.1% year-over-year, which Lerner said reflected disciplined cost management; wage inflation was “largely offset” by savings from prior restructurings while allowing for continued investment. Incidental items totaled EUR 13 million, including EUR 25 million of restructuring provisions tied to full-time employee reductions in wholesale banking and retail banking Belgium, expected to generate approximately EUR 20 million in annualized cost savings once implemented.

Total risk costs were EUR 346 million, or 19 basis points of average customer lending. Lerner said the quarter included a EUR 94 million prudent overlay to address potential impacts from higher energy prices and broader economic effects of the war in the Middle East, partly offset by a large repayment of a Stage 3 loan in wholesale banking. The Stage 3 ratio improved slightly to 1.5%.

Head of Risk Andrea Cesaroni said the overlay was built to adjust quarter-end macroeconomic scenarios and that, starting next quarter, the bank expects to revert to its normal process where macroeconomic consensus feeds into provisioning. He said the net impact on provisions will depend on how higher oil prices affect the macroeconomic outlook.

On capital, Lerner said continued capital generation enabled ING to begin a new EUR 1 billion share buyback program while maintaining the Core Equity Tier 1 ratio around its 13% target level. Van Rijswijk added that a previously announced EUR 1.1 billion share buyback was completed during the week, and the new program will run for six months.

In Q&A, van Rijswijk also addressed the Dutch mortgage floor, saying a decision by the Dutch central bank means the mortgage floor expires on December 1, 2026, which he said would lower risk-weighted assets by about EUR 4 billion, roughly 15 basis points of CET1. He said ING would treat the change consistent with its existing capital framework, returning structural excess capital above the 13% target to shareholders.

Lerner also noted a change in dividend reserving to comply with EBA guidelines. She said the new approach had a one-off impact of minus 23 basis points in the quarter, and that the additional distribution impacted CET1 by roughly 29 basis points. She stressed this was “merely a change in reserving approach” and that the distribution policy is unchanged.

Looking ahead, van Rijswijk said ING is “well on track” to deliver on its financial outlook for 2026 and 2027, citing continued momentum in fee income and expectations for positive operating jaws.

About ING Group NYSE: ING

ING Group N.V. is a Dutch multinational financial services company headquartered in Amsterdam. Formed through the consolidation of Dutch financial businesses, ING operates as a banking and financial services group that serves retail, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporates and institutional clients. The company is organized under a two-tier governance model common in the Netherlands, with an Executive Board responsible for day-to-day management and a Supervisory Board providing oversight.

ING's principal activities include retail and direct banking, commercial and wholesale banking, corporate lending, transaction services and cash management, and a range of investment and savings products.

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