Oct 29, 2026 earnings call — Strategy drives customer growth and profits
ING reported 6% year-on-year total income growth and delivered a 16% return on tangible equity in Q3.
Revenue $7.0B (est $7.1B) · EPS $0.75 (est $0.79)
Key quotes
"Growing primary relationships is particularly valuable as it drives deeper engagement, greater cross-selling, higher balances and ultimately, more income per customer."
"Now ING has a strong track record of digitalization with the vast majority of our key customer journey is now fully straight through and requiring no human intervention."
"A provision of around EUR 175 million is expected to be booked in the fourth quarter of 2026, leading to an annual cost reduction of around EUR 75 million from 2028 onwards."
Analyst Q&A 11
cost control and deposit competition
Q (Benoit Petrarque · Kepler Cheuvreux): Analyst asked how costs will develop to 2030 and if ING can keep strict cost control. He also asked about competitive pressure on deposit rates and confidence on liability margins.
A: Management said the 2030 targets will be shown at the Capital Markets Day in mid-June 2027 and that growth will be pursued in a scalable way with cost control. They noted larger franchises fund expansion in other markets and emphasized digital, hubs, and scalable product launches. On deposits they said competition is strong but ING continues to win profitable deposits and expects to keep generating them.
"Looking at the competitiveness in the market, we see that we continue to gain a good portion of deposit growth also in a seasonally slow quarter, which the third quarter is in the retail banking side." — Ida Lerner
wholesale deposits and lending margin
Q (Namita Samtani · Barclays): Analyst asked if the wholesale deposit inflow is structural or one-off and whether lending margin of about 120 bps should be expected going forward.
A: Management said the wholesale deposit inflow is part of a broader Wholesale Banking strategy to grow transaction services and deposit coverage, though flows vary by quarter and season. They said lending margin moved to 123 basis points due to mix shifts and they expect it to remain broadly stable at 123 basis points for the remainder of the year.
"For the remainder of the year, we expect lending margin to remain broadly stable at 123 basis points." — Ida Lerner
restructuring costs and SRT capital relief
Q (Giulia Miotto · Morgan Stanley): Analyst asked whether EUR 175 million in Q4 restructuring is a front-loaded spike and how restructuring costs and SRT benefits should be expected going forward.
A: Management said wholesale bank changes will be executed from March, give efficiency gains in 2027 and fuller impact by 2029, and they will keep the outlook as it is while looking for further efficiency opportunities. On SRTs, they closed two transactions this quarter, bringing 2026 capital relief to 16 basis points and total relief including 2025 to 28 basis points, and they see room for more SRTs where sensible.
"The transactions that we did this quarter contributed 12 basis points to the core equity Tier 1, bringing the capital relief for 2026 to 16 basis points." — Ida Lerner
mortgage growth and AUM per customer
Q (Benjamin Goy · Deutsche Bank): Analyst asked whether higher rates will slow mortgage growth toward target 5% volume growth and how much AUM per customer is outside ING (wallet share opportunity).
A: Management said loan and deposit growth has been around 6% annualized so far and it's early to call a clear slowdown from higher rates, though new-build mortgage demand may decline. On fee income and AUM, they said 5.4 million customers invest (about 14% of total) and there is still a large runway because investor penetration versus total customers is low.
"But you also see from the number of investors we have compared to our total number of customers that we still have an enormous runway to go, and that's what we are addressing." — Steven van Rijswijk (CEO)
mobile-primary customers and restructuring details
Q (Shrey Srivastava · Citi): Analyst asked how ING defines mobile-primary customers, how many products they hold versus peers, and how big the scope is to expand. He also asked why EUR 175 million restructuring yields only EUR 75 million run-rate savings.
A: Management defined mobile-primary customers as those with a current account where a certain amount of salary sits and at least one other product, meaning ING is one of their main banks; growth target has been about 1 million mobile-primary customers per year and 40% penetration leaves significant runway. On restructuring, they said the provision reflects the nature and roles affected and the savings profile depends on the type and scope of changes, so direct comparisons with other banks are not meaningful.
"So on the mobile primary customer, we call a client a mobile primary customers when they have a current account with us, whereby a certain amount of the salary sits with us." — Steven van Rijswijk (CEO)
commercial NII guidance and deposit costs
Q (Delphine Lee · JPMorgan): Analyst asked why commercial NII guidance was unchanged despite higher liability margin and a higher curve, and asked about expected deposit pass-through and costs for 2027–28.
A: Management said the NII guidance range remains valid and, based on current information, they are more likely at the upper end of EUR 16.8 billion to EUR 17 billion for 2026. They cautioned about interest-rate volatility, said competition remains strong, and noted liability margin and customer balance growth support upside while they do not comment on pass-through specifics.
"But however, on the basis of what we know today, we are more looking at the upper end of that range of EUR 16.8 billion to EUR 17 billion for 2026." — Ida Lerner
Wholesale Bank strategy and AI investment
Q: Analyst asked how Wholesale Banking will change beyond cost cuts — product mix, geographies, focus — and what ROE uplift to expect; and whether costs will ramp for AI and tech.
A: Management said Wholesale Banking is shifting to value over volume and diversifying away from lending toward transaction services and financial markets, with fees already rising. They confirmed focus on client and location, use of digitalization and AI to improve customer experience, coding speed and productivity, and that AI is part of efficiency and product rollout but not the only element.
"Two, we are focused on diversifying the product mix, also given our ZIP code and where we came from, the lion's share of our revenues has been in lending, and we have been investing to also diversify and grow our transaction services and our financial markets business." — Steven van Rijswijk (CEO)
one-off charges vs long-term benefit
Q (Chris Hallam · Goldman Sachs): Analyst asked if recent one-off provisions and restructuring are short-term headwinds bought for long-term earnings, and whether cutting staff could hurt commercial activity or fees.
A: Management agreed they create short-term pain for long-term benefit, and said the IFRS model update provision is a one-off unrelated to asset quality. They stressed restructurings aim to simplify processes, reduce complexity, improve digital journeys and customer service, and should not harm commercial activity but rather make serving clients easier.
"So in terms of that, we create a bit of short-term pain for long-term benefit." — Steven van Rijswijk (CEO)
investing in other retail and sovereign bonds
Q (Juan Lopez Cobo · Santander): Analyst asked what KPIs or returns ING expects from investments in other retail markets and SME lending (example Spain), and requested more detail on the sovereign/sub-sovereign portfolio duration, country mix and unrealized losses.
A: Management said each investment has its own business case and that expanding private banking and business banking in countries like Spain will raise returns and relevance, pointing to a group RoTE of 16% and an improved outlook versus 2024. On the sovereign portfolio, they said it is diversified, high quality and economically hedged for interest-rate risk, with limited historical capital impact and no material CET1 effect this quarter.
sovereign portfolio quality
Q: Follow-up asked for more color on the sovereign bond portfolio size, duration, country mix and sensitivity to market moves.
A: Management said they hold a diversified, high-quality investment portfolio of EUR 125 billion, economically hedge interest-rate risk so exposure is mainly to credit spreads, and historically this portfolio had limited capital impact and this quarter no material impact on core equity Tier 1. They declined to disclose duration or country mix but gave assurance on diversification and quality.
"We have a diversified and high-quality investment portfolio of EUR 125 billion." — Ida Lerner
loan-to-deposit and deposit cost drivers
Q (KBW): Analyst asked how ING manages loan-to-deposit ratios across divisions and countries and whether it would adjust country ratios to manage group-level funding. He also asked how much deposit cost increase was from specific campaigns.
A: Management said they manage balance sheet and capital holistically across the group, shifting capital where returns are best, and they look at liquidity and return rather than country-by-country targets. On deposit costs, they would not give campaign-specific numbers, but said core savings rates were stable, competition remains rational, and the quarter's term deposit increase was driven by successful campaigns to attract new volumes and optimise retention and deposit mix.
"This quarter, you saw an increase in term deposits, which was driven by successful campaigns to attract new volumes as well as to optimize retention and value of the overall deposit mix, which is also seen in our numbers this quarter." — Ida Lerner