ING upgraded its 2027 profit and revenue targets at the Bank of America 31st Annual Financials CEO Conference on Wednesday, raising its return-on-equity goal to above 16% from 14% and lifting revenue guidance by EUR 1 billion as growth accelerates across several business lines.
The revisions, announced at the conference on September 23, 2026, move beyond the interim 15% ROTE target set last January and the framework laid out at the bank's Capital Markets Day in 2024. CEO Steven said, "We are upgrading with 2 percentage points in ROTE from 14% to over 16%. Our revenue is growing with an additional EUR 1 billion compared to what we said two years ago."
Revenue for 2027 is now expected to exceed EUR 26 billion, while costs are targeted at around EUR 13 billion, cut by EUR 300 million from the earlier plan of EUR 13.3 billion. Cost growth is projected at roughly 3% annually. Fee income, which hit the EUR 5 billion target originally set for 2027 ahead of schedule, is expected to generate an additional EUR 300 million to EUR 500 million by 2027.
Retail lending grew at an 8% annualized pace year-to-date, while deposits rose 7% annualized. Total deposits reached EUR 700 billion after gaining roughly EUR 100 billion over the past two and a half years. About 95% of the deposit base is priced at the core rate without promotional pricing, and the loan-to-deposit ratio sits near 100%.
A Q2 deposit campaign in Germany brought in EUR 8 billion in new deposits. Deposit margins are expected to remain in the upper end of the historical 100 to 110 basis point range through 2027, with a possible breakout above that band in 2027-2028. A credit card launch in Germany is planned for November 2027.
The mortgage portfolio stands at approximately EUR 380 billion across nine retail markets. ING has captured 18% to 19% of the Netherlands mortgage production market share over the past two years, up from 14% in the existing book. Mortgage lending margin narrowed slightly to 124 basis points in Q2 from 126 basis points. Risk-weighted assets are now split 56% retail and 44% wholesale, exceeding the original 2027 target of 55% and 45%.
Assets under management climbed to EUR 330 billion, up from about EUR 150 billion six years ago. Some 5.3 million of ING's 41 million retail customers now invest with the bank, adding roughly 400,000 to 500,000 annually. Business banking assets total EUR 130 billion, concentrated 95% in the Benelux and Poland, with book growth of about EUR 7 billion year-to-date.
Wholesale banking return on equity currently stands at around 11%, with a target of 12% by 2027. Significant risk transfer activity accounted for 12 basis points last year, with 4 basis points completed year-to-date against a 15 to 20 basis point target for 2027.
On technology, 82% of customer journeys are now straight-through digital with no manual intervention. The bank employs 600 AI professionals, including 300 based in a hub in Turkey. AI-routed chatbot traffic has risen to 75% from 45%, and simple mortgages can now be approved in about 30 minutes, while complex cases have been reduced from seven days to five days using agentic AI.
Regarding the Dutch budget and bank levies, Steven noted that the minority coalition government still needs to secure support for its budget, which requires ratification later this year. "In the Netherlands, we pay bank levies based on our global balance sheet," he said. "I think we should change that. But if not, then at least we should avoid increasing that. So far, that has been the case."
