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11/7/13

The Netherlands - Banking: ING Groep NV saw its third-quarter profit fall sharply

ING Groep NV saw its third-quarter profit fall sharply after it booked a loss on the sale of operations in South Korea.

However the company's new chief executive said Wednesday profits on an underlying basis were stable and that the company is close to repaying rescue money it received from the Dutch state in times of crisis in 2008 and 2009.

Jan Hommen, the executive who stepped in after the bailouts to oversee ING's restructuring, retired on Oct. 1. His replacement, Ralph Hamers, said Wednesday that ING is "grateful" for the taxpayer money.

Net profit for the quarter was 101 million euros ($136 million), down from 659 million euros in the same period a year ago. During the quarter, it booked a 950 million euro loss on the sale of its South Korean insurance arm. Underlying profits, which exclude tax and one-time items, were 891 million euros, up 5.6 percent.

ING received 10 billion euros of state aid in 2008. It has been steadily shedding operations and repaying that debt, plus interest, ever since. On Wednesday it repaid 1.13 billion euros, leaving it with a remaining tab of 1.5 billion euros.

Almere-Digest

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