Dutch lender ING beats first quarter profit estimates, announces 2 billion euro buyback

By Mateusz Rabiega and Jakob Van Calster

(Reuters) -ING posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter profit and announced a 2 billion euro share buyback on Friday, lifting its shares and helping it recover most losses from an early April drop linked to U.S. tariff concerns.

Shares rose 4.3% by 0720 GMT, easing from a 5.7% jump after what analysts at JP Morgan called a "solid" set of results.

The Dutch bank reported a net profit of 1.46 billion euros, beating the 1.40 billion euros forecast in a company-compiled consensus.

"In these horrible times, we delivered strong results, driven by excellent growth in deposits and higher mortgage volumes," Chief Executive Steven van Rijswijk told journalists on a call, adding that the results were backed by a strong increase in fee income.

ING's buyback follows the completion of a previous programme announced in late October, as the Dutch lender continues to return surplus capital to shareholders.

At the end of the first quarter ING's CET-1 ratio, measuring a banks liquidity to its risk exposure, stood at 13.6%. In a press release on Friday it said it aimed to reach 12.8% to 13% by the year's end, up from the 12.5% previously iterated.

Van Rijswijk said he still wanted to reach that target later down the line, but had delayed the guidance taking the "macroeconomic uncertainty into account".

Quarterly commercial net-interest income, under pressure across the board as the region's central bank continues to cut interest rates, clocked in at 3.79 billion euros, in-line with expectations.

ING's merger strategy stayed unchanged as the bank and other lenders saw 2025 as the year of consolidation opportunities coupled with distribution of profits to its shareholders.

"We will, of course, take the uncertainty into account ... but it has not taken our eyes away looking from looking at M&A opportunities itself," van Rijswijk said.

($1 = 0.8846 euros)

(Reporting by Mateusz Rabiega and Jakob Van Calster; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)