ING said it took a €194 million ($286 million) charge to revalue assets related to sub-prime mortgages.Net profit at the company was €2.48 billion, up from €2.10 billion a year earlier.
The result included €1.02 billion of gains. ING sold shares in ABN Amro NV, the Dutch bank that was acquired by a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC last year in the industry's largest buyout; and shares of Royal Numico NV, acquired by Groupe Danone SA.
ING said that operationally, the quarter saw strong growth in its insurance business and modest growth in its banking business.
The company acknowledged that the business climate is worsening, and it wrote down €751 million of assets related to "Alt-A" mortgages, the level above subprime, to reflect their likely current market worth, which is difficult to appraise since they aren't being traded. But ING said that did not impact the company's profit and loss accounting.
"ING's exposure to the riskiest assets is limited, and the (Alt-A) investments we selected have a high level of structural credit protection to absorb significant losses as the U.S. housing crisis deepens," Chief Executive Michel Tilmant said in a statement.