ING tops first-quarter profit forecast, launches share buyback

By Diana Mandia

(Reuters) - ING Groep, the largest Dutch bank, on Thursday said it would launch a new share buyback after it reported better than expected first-quarter earnings, helped by rising interest rates and modest risk costs.

The group, which has returned around 17 billion euros ($18.7 billion) to shareholders since 2018, will launch a buyback programme of up to 1.5 billion euros on Friday.

Its shares were up 3.7% at 0802 GMT.

Lenders' margins are benefiting from rising interest rates after major central banks increased them at the fastest pace in at least two decades in 2022 to tackle inflation.

The company's CET1 ratio, a measure of solvency for European banks, rose 0.3 percentage points from the previous quarter to 14.8%, above the current requirement of 10.73%.

The bank's net additions to loan loss provisions - money set aside for failing loans - totalled 152 million euros in the quarter.

ING also registered a 118 million euro net release of provisions for its Russia-related portfolio due to a further reduction of its exposure.

It has decreased its exposure to Russia by 57% since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, to stand at 2.3 billion euros at the end of the first quarter.

"We do not see a future for ourselves in Russia," CEO Steven van Rijswijk said in a call with journalists.

The group, present in around 40 countries, said its net profit jumped to 1.59 billion euros in the first quarter, beating the 1.11 billion euros expected by analysts polled by the company.

However, its net fee and commission income fell 4% to 896 million euros, hit by a decline in fees from investment products reflecting lower assets under management and subdued trading activity.

ING confirmed its target for total income growth of more than 10% in 2023.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

(Reporting by Diana Mandiá in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi, Mark Potter and Christina Fincher)