The Tip Desk

ING Lending Growth Anchors Full-Year Banking Results

Commercial net interest income totaled €4.060 billion as the commercial margin stood at 2.26%.

ING Groep (ING), the Dutch banking group, recorded €15.0 billion of net core lending growth for 2025, led by €9.4 billion in Retail Banking and €5.6 billion in Wholesale Banking. Mortgages accounted for €5.9 billion of the retail increase.

Net core deposit growth totaled €7.2 billion, split between €4.3 billion in Retail Banking and €2.9 billion in Wholesale Banking. Inflows into retail savings and term deposits outweighed current-account outflows and conversions into investment products.

That balance-sheet activity accompanied net interest income of €4.055 billion, including €4.060 billion of commercial net interest income. Net interest margin was 1.46%, while the commercial margin was 2.26%.

The average lending margin stood at 1.26% and the average liability margin was 1.04%. Net fee and commission income totaled €1.236 billion, supported by retail investment products, cross-selling and insurance, alongside wholesale deal flow across lending, trade finance, capital-markets issuance and corporate finance.

Operating expenses were €3.219 billion, including €324 million of regulatory costs and €30 million of incidental items. The cost/income ratio was 55.3%.

Additions to loan-loss provisions totaled €346 million, equivalent to 19 basis points of average customer lending. Retail Banking recorded €275 million of risk costs, or 21 basis points, while Wholesale Banking recorded 12 basis points and mortgage risk costs remained low.

ING ended the period with a 13.0% common-equity Tier 1 ratio and announced a €1.0 billion share buyback to return capital above its approximately 13% target.

Return on tangible equity was 13.6%, with the four-period rolling average at 13.9%, leaving capital returns tied closely to the group’s target-level CET1 position.