By Maarten van Tartwijk
AMSTERDAM-- ING Groep NV said Wednesday that it would pay its
first dividend since the global financial crisis of 2008 after the
Dutch bank reported a sharp rise in fourth-quarter net profit.
Amsterdam-based ING said it would pay a cash dividend of EUR470
million ($532 million), or EUR0.12 a share, and reiterated its aim
for a payout ratio of 40% of annual net profit from 2015 on.
ING was able to restart dividends after repaying the final chunk
of state aid it received at the height of the financial crisis in
2008. The lender has also nearly completed a radical overhaul that
transformed it into a smaller and better capitalized Europe-focused
bank.
ING reported fourth-quarter net profit of EUR1.18 billion
compared with EUR626 million in the same period a year earlier. Its
underlying pretax profit, which excludes the impact of divestments
and other special items, fell 13% to EUR783 million, slightly below
analyst expectations.
Write to Maarten van Tartwijk at maarten.vantartwijk@wsj.com
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