“In 2024, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our bank's operations, making this a special and meaningful year for our team. It is a time when we reflect with joy on our achievements and the active role we have played in the evolution of the Romanian banking sector. At the same time, we are excited about the opportunities to grow in the coming years and to continue bringing value to our clients through innovation and quality services. We are grateful to our clients for their trust, which motivates us daily to be better, and the ING team remains committed to promoting modern and transparent banking services that help clients achieve their goals and aspirations," says Mihaela Bîtu, Country Manager ING Bank Romania.

ING Bank Romania continued its growth path, reporting revenues of RON 877 million and total assets of RON 71.4 billion, an increase of 11.3% and 14.1%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. There is a noticeable trend of accelerated growth in deposits compared to loan portfolio, amid persistent inflation and relatively high interest rates. Thanks to continuous and prudent lending policies, provisions were still low at approximately RON 58 million, but higher than in the same period last year. In this context of asset and revenue growth, the reported net profit is RON 347 million, 1% higher than Q1 2023.

ING offered new loans to support the transition towards a more sustainable environment, offering eco-discount loans for individuals worth €32 million, representing approximately 50% of the total value granted in 2023 (€67 million). Loans with sustainability components granted to companies reached €4.5 million for small businesses, respectively €670 million in syndicated and bilateral loans for large companies. Regarding mutual funds with a sustainable component (article 9 according to SFDR), €29 million were invested by individual clients in the first quarter.

New features for building the best client experience, based on real life needs

The beginning of the year brought a new product, ING Together, which is essentially a revolutionary financial health tool that makes a transition from an individual bank account to a collaborative banking approach: one bank account can have up to four users, who can manage shared budgets and perform a wide range of operations, such as transfers, online or card expenses, and savings. Thus, ING Together responds to a concrete need in the day to day life: that of an open and efficient joint spending management.

Another premiere was the gelocalization feature in Home'Bank that allows a faster detection of fraudulous transactions made within the app from another geographical area than where the app previously indicated. It can also identify fraudulous online payments or virtual card visualisation.

“The new features in Home'Bank are esential in delivering the best and safest client experience, relevant for the real lives of our clients. ING reported 83,7% mobile active users in the past quarter, which, by global standards, is a highly digital client base, having a client log in the mobile app on a daily basis. We also had a 26% increase YoY of transactions in ING Home'Bank: in other words, an ING client makes, on average, 9 transfers per month” - Alina Iacomi, Head of Digital Banking.

Clients with small businesses also had two new relevant launches, highly requested within the portfolio. Now, companies with a single shareholder, which represent approximately 60% of our portfolio, have the option to perform fully digitally the KYC review, without having to go in an office. During the first three months of 2024, 48% out of the eligible clients who updated their data performed it in the new flow.

Also, the same category of clients can now acces up to RON 500,000 without material guarantees, financial documents or annual review in new full online process for a credit line, available in ING Business. This is the second full online lending product for small businesses, after the launch of the term loan with equal installments with instant access to the money. Now, small companies have all their lending options available online.

ING Bank Romania is part of ING Group, a global international financial institution that provides banking services to more than 38.8 million individual customers, companies or institutions in more than 40 countries.

Established in 1994, ING Bank Romania is now a universal bank, offering products and services to all categories of customers - large and small companies, financial institutions, small entrepreneurs and individuals. ING Bank Romania is the fourth bank in the top 10 local banks, according to assets, and the only bank with organic growth, without purchasing customer portfolios or other banks. ING Bank Romania is a universal bank with over 1.6 million clients in three business segments: retail, SME and Mid-Corporate and Wholesale Banking.