ING Groep N.V. (NYSE:ING) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Guillaume Tiberghien : Good morning. Thanks for the question. So the question relates to the RWA in the Wholesale division. I understand the amount is weak and you expect it to remain subdued. I understand your models can go up or down depending on the model cycle. But I’m more interested in how you think about the strategy for the RWA development in the CIB. What do you actually want to do? Do you want to continue to lend with lower density? Lend less? So can you just elaborate a little bit about your strategy for growth in RWA in Wholesale? Thank you.

Steven van Rijswijk: Okay. Thank you for the question. Clearly, we are a bank that is focusing on very strong large corporates, and we have strong knowledge in a number of sectors and we have had it for decades. We stick to those sectors and we stick to those corporates. So there is not a change in risk structure or in risk appetite. At the moment, we do see some lending pickup in large lending deals. But at the same time, due to lower commodity prices, we also saw an impact in lower Trade & Commodity Finance, which outpaced that lending income. Markets remain relatively uncertain given also the economic outlook. But what we do work on is, first of all, to continue our strides to do the — to help customers to transition to more sustainable business models in light of the prior [indiscernible].

So that’s what we focus on. But secondly, we’re still very much an underwrite to hold bank and we also work on better capital velocity, which basically means that we will increasingly also underwrite and then sell. And that’s what you have also partly seen now in the second quarter coming in. That part of the decrease in RWA in the Wholesale Banking was because we started in our strategy with also moving and doing more in capital velocity. Last but not least, also, we have further deleveraged our exposure in Russia. We continue to do that. Currently, our total exposure in Russia is €1.7 billion, but came down from a couple of hundred million higher earlier this year and that has also led to some RWA release. So those are two factors. And I mentioned already the strategy we have regarding the Wholesale Banking lending and capital velocity.

Guillaume Tiberghien : Thank you. Can I just do a small follow-up on the deposit beta? I didn’t hear earlier, did you say you were at 29% at the end of the quarter?

Steven van Rijswijk: So until now, we had 20%. But with the rate increase on the Netherlands as for August 15, the tracking would be 29%.

Guillaume Tiberghien : Thank you.

Operator: The next question comes from Chris Hallam from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Chris Hallam : Yeah. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just two of them. So first, on capital allocation, you’ve talked a lot already about distribution. But if you look at the businesses, you’re running well ahead of that ROE target at 12.5% quarter one. Cost of risk is very low with those overlays still there. So given that, are there any business areas where you’re now considering more capital — putting more capital to work versus when those targets were initially calibrated, i.e., more capital-intensive areas? You touched on this already for the CIB, but just perhaps for the broader group. That’s the first question. And then a follow-up to an earlier question on deposit growth in Germany. Is there any color you’re able to give on the marginal cost of — marginal cost of attracting those deposits?

Obviously, there are some big headline deposit offers out there in Germany from some other players and I was just wondering how we should think about marginal deposit funding cost versus the aggregate cost.

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