ING reports loss after bailout repayment
DUTCH banking group ING has reported a fourth quarter loss after repaying some of its bailout funds.
ING reported a loss of 712m euros (£621m) after giving back 930m euros to the Dutch government.
However, the loss was less than the 3.71bn-euros it reported in the same quarter last year.
The group will sell its insurance business within four years in order to focus on its banking operation after European Commission regulators insisted on the move under the terms of the bailout package.
ING received 10bn euros from the government at the height of the global financial crisis.
The bank made a net loss of 935m euros over the whole of 2009.
CEO at the Amsterdam based group Jan Hommen said: “Although asset impairments and revaluations continued to have a substantial impact on ING’s results … the negative impact of market volatility was substantially lower in the fourth quarter than a year ago.”