ABN AMRO Bank posts net profit of EUR 397 million in Q4 2024
Q4 Key messages
Good finish to the year: Q4 net profit of EUR 397 million, supported by continued high net interest income and fee income
Strong result in 2024: Net profit of EUR 2.4 billion and a return on equity of 10.1%
Continued mortgage portfolio growth: Increase of EUR 1.1 billion in Q4 and full-year growth of over EUR 5 billion, supported by an increase in clients
Net interest income (NII) further improved: Q4 benefited from higher Treasury result, resulting in NII of EUR 6.5 billion for the full year. Expected NII for 2025 between EUR 6.2 and 6.4 billion
Continued fee growth: Fee income increased compared to the previous quarter,resulting in fee growth for the year of over 7%, driven by better performance in all client units
Costs remain under control: Costs for the full year, excluding large incidentals, in line with guidance at EUR 5.3 billion. For 2025, costs are expected to be broadly flat
Solid credit quality: Impairments of EUR 9 million in Q4, reflecting increases in individually provisioned client files. Net impairment releases of EUR 21 million for the year
Strong capital position: Basel III CET1 ratio of 14.5% and Basel IV CET1 ratio estimated at a similar level
Final dividend of EUR 0.75 per share proposed
Robert Swaak, CEO:
“ABN AMRO delivered another strong full-year result, with a net profit of EUR 2.4 billion for 2024 and a return on equity of over 10%. The year saw further growth in our net interest income and fee income. With the Dutch mortgage market rebounding during 2024, we managed to increase our market share for new production from 16% to 19%. In 2024, we also managed to grow the corporate loan book in our transition themes; digital, new energies and mobility. Our underlying cost base was in line with our guidance of EUR 5.3 billion and our solid credit quality led to net impairment releases. We continued to execute on our strategy of being a personal bank in the digital age. Furthermore, our sustainability efforts were rewarded with our return to the S&P Global Dow Jones Sustainability Index Europe.
With almost half the global population holding elections, 2024 was an exceptional year. We expect that the geopolitical ramifications and economic impact of these elections will be felt in the coming years. The ECB lowered interest rates a number of times as inflation subsided and Eurozone GDP growth was slow. The growth of the Dutch economy was muted during 2024 due to lower exports and business investments, while inflation remained elevated compared to the European average. Domestic demand grew driven by an increase in wages and house prices increased by almost 9% during the year.
We were again able to grow our mortgage book in the fourth quarter with EUR 1.1 billion. Our corporate loan book decreased in Q4 largely reflecting more active capital allocation and steering. We transferred credit risk on a portfolio of corporate loans and decided to materially reduce our international Asset Based Finance activities in Germany and the United Kingdom.
Our fourth quarter financial results were solid, with a net profit of EUR 397 million. Net interest income increased to EUR 1,668 million, reflecting a strong Treasury result. Fee income increased again this quarter, up 11% on the same quarter last year, with all client units contributing to the growth. Underlying costs rose during the fourth quarter, as was expected given the additional vacancies that were filled.
Our solid credit quality and benign economic circumstances led to another quarter of very limited impairments of EUR 9 million. Risk-weighted assets decreased by EUR 3.0 billion, largely reflecting business developments including capital steering and data quality improvements. These factors, combined with the increase of CET1 capital during the quarter, resulted in the Basel III capital ratio rising to 14.5%. We made progress with the implementation of Basel IV and now estimate the Basel IV capital ratio to be at a similar level as our Basel III capital ratio. We will provide an update on the outcome of our capital assessment when publishing our Q2 results.
In 2020, we launched our current strategy: A personal bank in the digital age. Since then, we have made significant progress on the three strategic pillars that define the crucial focus areas for creating value for our key stakeholder groups; clients, shareholders, colleagues and society as a whole.
We have continued investing in our customer experience, focusing on attractive segments where we can grow by bringing convenience into the daily lives of our clients and expertise where it matters. We are making a significant investment in Germany with the intended acquisition of Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe, a private bank with a long standing history, positioning ABN AMRO as a leading private bank in the German market. Our Dutch retail bank provides all services and products through online channels, supported by a network of 25 retail branches. For those clients that need active support with daily banking tasks, we doubled our ‘Help with Banking’ advisers to 200 during the year. We are continuing our efforts to improve our client services and product offering which is reflected in our improved Net Promoter Score (NPS) compared to last year within all client units. We also launched our new brand promise ‘For every new beginning’ to appeal to the entrepreneurial spirit of our clients and highlight the expertise that we can offer. We have welcomed the 10 millionth active user of Tikkie, our payment request application. Its success has even led to the word ‘tikkie’ being included in the Dutch dictionary. More and more businesses are now turning to Tikkie for invoicing, solidifying our leading position in peer-to-peer payments.
We have continued embedding sustainability in our operations and the asset volume of client loans with a sustainability component (including mortgages and corporate loans) and ESG & impact investments rose from 34% to 37% in 2024. We remain focused on the decarbonisation of our loan portfolio. Additional targets for passenger cars, mortgages, as well as the upstream and midstream part of our oil and gas portfolio will be disclosed in our integrated annual report. Related to our aim to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, we have added insurance products for farmers who reduce their use of chemical pesticides. Other developments in the fourth quarter included the Sustainable Impact Fund’s acquisition of a stake in Urban Mine, a leader in sustainable construction and concrete recycling, and the pilot launch of the Human Rights Remedy Mechanism, which allows individuals to raise concerns about human rights violations linked to our corporate clients.
During 2024, we continued to allocate significant resources to making our bank future proof. We maintained our leading position in cyber resilience, as evidenced by external parties like BitSight. We added further use cases of Gen-AI in the fourth quarter with the introduction of an AI chatbot for Tikkie and a voicebot for incoming calls from our credit card clients. This will further build on our digital product experience and client contact, for which we are already externally recognised as the digital leader in the Dutch banking sector.
There are multiple complex and demanding projects running in parallel in relation to changes in the regulatory environment, and we made significant progress across the board during the year. We are in the final phase of simplifying our model landscape while at the same time finalising the implementation of Basel IV. Furthermore, we are continuously refining our AML processes, and are implementing CSRD and other sustainability-related regulations in our reporting. These programmes will continue to impact parts of our organisation, despite the investments in additional change capacity that we made during the year.
In January 2025, we announced that Marguerite Bérard is the intended new CEO of ABN AMRO. Following regulatory approval, she will be appointed by the Supervisory Board after being introduced to the AGM in April. I am very pleased with the nomination of Marguerite. In the short time that I have had the pleasure of getting to know her, I have become impressed by her inspiring personality and deep knowledge of the banking sector. I am confident that she will successfully lead the bank forward, building on the strong foundations that we have in place.
As I look back, I am proud of what ABN AMRO has achieved and I value the dedication and commitment that clients, shareholders and colleagues have shown to this iconic Dutch institution. I am confident that ABN AMRO will continue banking for better, for generations to come.
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ABN Amro Bank: Πολύ κάτω από τις προβλέψεις τα αποτελέσματα δ΄ τριμήνου
Η ABN Amro Bank ανακοίνωσε κέρδη που έχασαν τις εκτιμήσεις των αναλυτών λόγω της αύξησης του κόστους, με την ολλανδική τράπεζα να παρέχει guidance ότι τα έξοδα θα σταθεροποιηθούν φέτος.
Τα καθαρά έσοδα της τράπεζας με έδρα το Άμστερνταμ ανήλθαν σε 397 εκατομμύρια ευρώ (411 εκατομμύρια δολάρια) το δ’ τρίμηνο, σε σύγκριση με την εκτίμηση των αναλυτών για 448,5 εκατομμύρια ευρώ. Τα λειτουργικά έξοδα αυξήθηκαν κατά 10% την περίοδο στην τράπεζα λόγω υψηλότερου αριθμού προσωπικού και δαπανών που σχετίζονται με την πληροφορική.
Ο διευθύνων σύμβουλος Robert Swaak, ο οποίος απέσυρε την τράπεζα από δραστηριότητες υψηλότερου κινδύνου και περιόρισε την εστίασή της στον καταναλωτικό δανεισμό στην Ολλανδία και τη βορειοδυτική Ευρώπη, θα παραιτηθεί χωρίς να ολοκληρώσει τη δεύτερη θητεία του. Το πρωήν επιτελικό στέλεχος της BNP Paribas, Marguerite Berard, πρόκειται να αναλάβει τον ρόλο του στις 23 Απριλίου, καθώς οι ευρωπαϊκές τράπεζες περιηγούνται σε ένα περιβάλλον πτώσης επιτοκίων.
“Αναμένουμε ότι τα χαμηλότερα επιτόκια θα έχουν αντίκτυπο στις συνολικές προοπτικές μας για το 2025”, δήλωσε ο οικονομικός διευθυντής Ferdinand Vaandrager, σε συνέντευξή του στο Bloomberg TV.
Η τράπεζα προέβλεψε καθαρά έσοδα από τόκους, ή τη διαφορά μεταξύ αυτών που κερδίζει από δάνεια και εκείνων που πληρώνει από καταθέσεις, μεταξύ 6,2 δισεκατομμυρίων ευρώ και 6,4 δισεκατομμυρίων ευρώ, με το κόστος “σε γενικές γραμμές σταθερό” για το έτος.
Ο Vaandrager είπε ότι, ενώ η τράπεζα επικεντρώνεται στην οργανική ανάπτυξη, “αν υπάρχουν οποιουδήποτε είδους ευκαιρίες που ταιριάζουν πραγματικά στη στρατηγική μας, το αναθεωρούμε πάντα”.
Τον Νοέμβριο, η ABN είπε ότι η εφαρμογή των παγκόσμιων προτύπων κεφαλαίου χρειαζόταν περισσότερο από το αναμενόμενο, με αποτέλεσμα να αναβάλει μια απόφαση για πιθανή αγορά ιδίων μετοχών για τη δημοσίευση των αποτελεσμάτων β’ τριμήνου.
Ο δείκτης tier 1 της τράπεζας, βασικός δείκτης μέτρησης χρηματοοικονομικής ευρωστίας, κινήθηκε στο 14,5% το δ’ τρίμηνο.
NN Life & Pensions to acquire ABN AMRO Verzekeringen’s life insurance subsidiary
NN Group, ABN AMRO Bank and their joint venture ABN AMRO Verzekeringen (AAV) announced that they have reached an agreement to sell AAV’s life insurance subsidiary to Nationale-Nederlanden Levensverzekering Maatschappij N.V. (NN Life & Pensions).
AAV is a joint venture between NN Group (51%) and ABN AMRO Bank (49%) that provides insurance products and services to over one million retail and corporate customers. NN Group already consolidates the life insurance activities of AAV. ABN AMRO Bank and NN Group have agreed to extend their successful cooperation in AAV by 5 years until 2038, if certain customary performance criteria are met. Following the transaction, AAV will focus on its non-life insurance business and its insurance broker activities. NN Group and ABN AMRO Bank have agreed to make additional investments in the coming years to strengthen AAV’s digital capabilities and further grow its non-life portfolio.
The life insurance subsidiary of AAV, ABN AMRO Levensverzekering N.V. (AAL), will be integrated into NN Life & Pensions. The intended transaction will have no impact on the services and guarantees to customers. NN Life & Pensions and ABN AMRO Bank intend to continue the sale of term life products via the bank’s channels.
Leon van Riet, CEO Netherlands Life & Pensions and member of the Management Board of NN Group: ‘This transaction is in line with our strategy to achieve further efficiencies by leveraging our existing closed book capabilities. We are pleased to continue our successful collaboration with ABN AMRO Bank and look forward to further supporting AAV’s growth strategy in non-life insurance.’
NN Life & Pensions will acquire 100% of ABN AMRO Levensverzekering N.V. from AAV for a total amount of EUR 253 million. This will be financed from existing cash resources of NN Life & Pensions. Following the transaction, AAV intends to distribute the proceeds from the transaction, after deduction of costs related to the transaction, to its shareholders NN Group and ABN AMRO Bank.
The transaction is expected to have a limited negative impact on NN Group’s Solvency II ratio on closing, which is expected to change into a limited positive impact following the envisaged legal merger of AAL and NN Life & Pensions and the application of NN Group’s Partial Internal Model. On a consolidated basis, the acquisition is expected to result in a net cash outflow from NN Group of EUR 128 million for the indirect 49% stake in AAL and an increase of its dividend capacity of approximately EUR 15 million per annum.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second half of 2022.
ABN AMRO Bank – Simplified organisational structure and appointment Executive Board members ratified
After the close of the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 24 November 2021, Choy van der Hooft-Cheong, Dan Dorner and Gerard Penning were appointed as members of the Executive Board of ABN AMRO Bank N.V.
The appointments, announced on 11 October 2021, were subject to regulatory approval and to consultation with the bank’s shareholders and holders of depositary receipts. Both conditions have been met.
The simplified organisational structure was also discussed at the EGM. Three client units – Personal & Business Banking, Wealth Management and Corporate Banking – will replace the four existing business lines. This was also announced on 11 October 2021.