CEO statement
“I’m proud of ING’s resilient results over 2020 and that more people continued to choose us as their primary bank, even as the year was defined by the unprecedented challenges of Covid-19 and its impact on our customers, business clients and society,” said CEO Steven van Rijswijk. “This shows that our mobile- and digital-first capabilities, coupled with our strong network, are delivering value to customers and meeting their needs.
“We continue to see a healthy demand for mortgages. We also observed people spending less in lockdown, which resulted in an increase in savings. The demand for business and consumer loans has declined, given the lower economic activity and increased uncertainty. Considerably more customers are choosing ING as their bank for investment products, which has resulted in healthy growth of fee and commission income. Risk costs, though higher for the full year, dropped 51% in the fourth quarter compared to the year-earlier period, while operational expenses remained under control. Our capital position strengthened further to 15.5% and we propose a dividend payout in line with recommendations by the European Central Bank.
“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been talking to thousands of customers a week and have granted €19.4 billion in payment holidays. We’ve been making sure employees are supported technically, physically and mentally to work from home, and we continued providing community support by making donations and funding social projects.
“In addition to providing payment relief, we’re also working to support the economy where needed. For example, we joined the European Investment Bank to lend nearly €800 million on favourable terms to Dutch small and medium-sized enterprises that are affected by the economic impact of Covid-19.
“In 2021, we’ll continue to make sure that our bank is safe, secure and compliant. We’ll continue to work on cost efficiency and providing a good return for our shareholders. We’ll keep decisively executing our strategy so we continue to build on our position as a digital leader in banking. Our customers continue to be our priority, giving them a differentiating experience while supporting them where we can to weather the effects of the pandemic on their lives, their finances and their businesses.”