ING to pay off bail-out loan ahead of time

Leading Dutch bank ING announced Wednesday it would repay a multi-billion-euro loan from the Dutch state ahead of time, as it posted a nearly eight-fold jump in quarterly profits.
The Amsterdam-based ING posted 928 million euros ($1.16 billion) in third-quarter net profit, up from 128 million euros over the same period last year, a statement said.
ING said that based on a capital surplus it would now pay the Dutch state a final one billion euros ahead of time on a loan made in October 2008 at the height of the banking crisis.
Like other major Dutch banks, ING was bailed out by the state when it received a cash injection of 10 billion euros.
"ING has notified the Dutch state that it intends to make the final repayment of 1.025 billion euros... on November 7, half a year ahead of the repayment schedule as agreed with the European Commission in 2012," it said.
ING was due to pay up by May next year.
The Dutch bank underwent deep restructuring, selling off its insurance businesses in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and Asia as it sought to pay back the loan as well as an additional three billion euros in interest.
The final repayment has been approved by the Dutch and European central banks and will consist of 683 million euros in principal and 342 million euros in interest and premiums, ING said.
"ING will fund the repayment from the capital surplus at the ING group. As a result the payment has no impact on ING Bank's capital ratios," it stressed.
ING in July announced it was selling insurer NN Group in one of Europe's biggest initial public offerings this year, expected to rake in 1.5 billion euros.
ING is to retain a majority stake in NN Group and completely sell it off by the end of 2016, while reducing its interest in Voya Financial to 32 percent in September.
"The financial impacts of these actions (in NN Group and Voya), together with the net results of our insurance businesses are reflected in ING Group's third-quarter net result," ING said.