- Result before tax at just under €1.17 billion (2020: €1.04 billion)
- Growth in securities, mortgages and consumer loans
- Number of primary bank customers rises to 2.26 million (2020: 2.15 million)
- 3 million app users for the first time (2020: 2.6 million)
Frankfurt am Main, 3 February 2022 – ING Germany scored points with its offerings for private, business and corporate customers and again grew profitably in 2021. In an intensive financial year, the bank benefited from its broad, mainly digital, approach and posted a pre-tax profit of €1.17 billion (2020: €1.04 billion).
“2021 was a successful year for us. We expanded our offering, grew in a balanced way and ultimately delivered a strong result,” says Nick Jue, CEO of ING in Germany and Head of Region Germany. “At the same time, the financial year brought difficult decisions and demanding tasks: We withdrew from the retail business in Austria, introduced custody fees and implemented the ruling of the German Federal Supreme Court on general terms and conditions.”
The bank made progress in the ratio of net interest income to net commission income: In particular, strong securities business and the work of Interhyp AG ensured that the commission result now accounts for a good 20 percent of a total income of €2.63 billion (2020: €2.61 billion). In 2021, net commission income rose by 13 percent to €543 million (2020: €479 million), while net interest income fell to €1.97 billion (2020: €2.04 billion). The remaining business result grew to €121 million (2020: €88 million). This includes one-off expenses for the successful sale of the retail business in Austria. There was a positive impact on the result from the change in addition to loan loss provisions, which more than halved to €-113 million (2020: €-264 million). The cost-income ratio rose slightly to 51.2 percent (2020: 49.9 percent), mainly due to investments in personnel and new products.
The bank continued to strengthen its relationship with customers: The number of customers who keep a current account with regular cash inflows and use at least one other product of the bank increased by around 106,000 to 2.26 million (2020: 2.15 million). In total, ING Germany had some 9.09 million private customers at the end of 2021 (2020: 9.53 million).
Adjusted for the loss of private customers in Austria, the net customer growth in Germany amounted to around 131,000 (2020: 8,000), and the bank gained around 158,000 net new primary bank customers in Germany.
Securities business continues to grow, more than 2 million brokerage accounts
Securities transactions rose to a record level of 34.0 million (2020: 26.9 million). The number of securities savings plans also developed positively, more than doubling to 1.32 million (2020: 0.59 million). The volume of securities rose to €79.0 billion (2020: €57.28 billion), the net number of securities accounts grew by 328,000 to 2.05 million (2020: 1.72 million). In gross terms, around 425,000 new securities accounts were opened in 2021, with around a quarter of them being opened by new customers.
“We set out to make investing in securities as easy as having a savings account – and we have made good progress. Our customers are increasingly considering the alternatives to traditional savings and are taking to our securities offering very well”, says Nick Jue.
In mid-2021, ING Germany’s “Komfort-Anlage” (comfort investment plan) started offering customers digital and personal support in the search for the right securities investment. Since then, customers have invested around €100 million in the seven funds of funds offered.
The volume of securities held by online asset manager Scalable Capital for customers of ING Germany rose to around €1.6 billion at the end of the year (2020: €1.2 billion). The cooperation exists since 2017.
Current accounts now at almost 3 million, customer deposits decline as planned
At the end of 2021, the bank had 2.97 million current accounts, which is approximately 94,000 more than in the previous year (2020: 2.88 million). In gross terms, around 292,000 new current accounts were opened (2020: 286,000). Deposits in savings products and current accounts fell by a net €10.1 billion to €134.22 billion (2020: €144.32 billion). The reasons for the decline were, in particular, the discontinuation of retail deposits in Austria, the improvement of the securities offering and the introduction of the custody fee.
Existing customers have until the end of February 2022 to agree to the new terms and conditions, which include the custody fee for balances of over 50,000 euros per account.
Nick Jue: “We still offer our customers excellent banking, which is why we count on their consent to the new terms and conditions. We are very clear about what is changing, we show the alternatives and make the consent process as simple as possible. And we are intensifying the dialogue with those who have not yet agreed. This is the best way to prevent account cancellations.”
Positive development in consumer loans and mortgages continues unabated
Loans to consumers grew by 5 percent to a new high of around €9.62 billion (2020: €9.19 billion). New business in consumer loans increased by 21 percent year-on-year to €5.41 billion (2020: €4.46 billion). In mortgage lending, the volume rose by around 8 percent to a record value of €85.44 billion (2020: €79.43 billion). New business commitments amounted to €17.61 billion, 33 percent more than in the previous year (€13.24 billion). Interhyp AG brokered a total mortgage volume of around €34.17 billion in 2021 (2020: €28.79 billion).
Wholesale Banking with strong result – German customers in focus
Corporate finance has become a cornerstone of ING Germany over the last ten years. In 2021, earnings before tax more than doubled to €331 million (2020: €151 million), meaning that Wholesale Banking now contributes around 28 percent to ING Germany’s overall result. The corporate banking business benefited from an increase in income of 8 percent to €561 million (2020: €521 million) and a significant decrease in risk provisions of 68 percent. The credit volume remained almost unchanged at €31.0 billion (2020: €31.5 billion).
In the past year, the bank gained new customers, especially from the large German SME sector, but also including corporate groups such as Deutsche Telekom. For the first time, Wholesale Banking had more than 200 German customers. In addition, ING Germany confirmed its role in sustainable financing. At the turn of the year, the bank provided financing for Deutsche Glasfaser to the amount of €5.75 billion, which is tied to environmental, social and governance sustainability criteria. The funds from the largest fibre-optic financing deal in Germany will be used for broadband expansion in rural regions.
Nick Jue: “Sustainability in banking is often centred around loans. The greener we make our loan book, the greater our contribution to a sustainable future. Our know-how in this area gives us powerful leverage in sustainable corporate banking.”
Since 2017, the bank has been involved in a leading role in around a quarter of all sustainability mandates in Germany, 2021 including for Henkel, Fresenius and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Positive trend in business banking – Lendico becomes ING
The business banking segment, i.e. digital lending to smaller medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and self-employed persons, developed positively. The portfolio volume increased by 29 percent to €172 million at the end of 2021 (2020: €133 million). New business increased to €120 million (2020: €75 million). The partnership with Amazon played a special role: The in 2020 newly established channel has substantially contributed to the new business volume in 2021.
ING Germany also made progress with the integration of Lendico, which should be completed in the course of 2022. Lendico will be fully integrated into the business banking division of ING Germany. The approximately 170 employees will be taken over by the bank and the Berlin location will be retained.
Digital offering continuously improved – mobile banking on the rise
ING Germany again recorded a significant increase in the use of its digital services. This was driven in part by the by the boost for digital services resulting from the Corona pandemic, as well as the continued improvement of the online and mobile banking offering throughout the year.
2021 showed again that the smartphone is becoming increasingly important for customers of ING Germany. The number of app users reached the 3 million mark for the first time, and mobile payments increased by over 60 percent compared to the previous year. Customers logged into ING Germany banking over 1 billion times in 2021 (2020: 900 million). Over 90% of these logins were made with the app.
The smartphone is no longer only used for the account overview or everyday payments, but increasingly to contract banking services. ING customers now procure more than 30 per cent of products via smartphone (previous year: 26 per cent) and carry out around 60 per cent of securities transactions via the app (2020: 46 per cent).
“More and more of our customers are investing in securities via the app. We want to support them in this and will significantly expand the securities functions of the app this year. It should become clearer and more intuitive, and it should support investment decisions with targeted and personalised information”, says Nick Jue.
Developments
Number of customers (retail) and employees
Income statement according to IFRS
Key figures
Disclaimer:
All information provided here on ING Deutschland is based on the preliminary IFRS consolidated financial statements of ING Holding Deutschland GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, which have yet to be audited. Values in tables are rounded. The totals and changes compared with the prior-year period in the tables are based on the exact values and may therefore differ where appropriate. The deviations from the figures published by ING Group N.V. for the Germany region are mainly the result of ING Group internal group settlements. The forecasts or expectations contained in this publication may be subject to uncertainties. The report reflects the status at the time of publication. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We assume no obligation to update such statements in light of new information or future events.