ING Q4'21 profit up 30% YOY; Nordea unveils new 2025 financial targets

TOP NEWS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIALS

* ING Groep NV posted a net result of €945 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, up 30% from the year-ago €727 million, primarily due to higher income. For full year 2021, the Dutch bank's net result nearly doubled on a yearly basis to €4.78 billion from €2.49 billion. The proposed final 2021 dividend amounts to 41 cents per ordinary share.

* Nordea Bank Abp set out new financial targets for 2025 as it reported a 40% year-over-year rise in fourth-quarter 2021 net profit attributable to shareholders, to €1.02 billion from €725 million. The Finland-based lender reached a return on equity of 11.2% and a cost-to-income ratio of 48% in 2021, surpassing its 2022 financial targets a year ahead of schedule. For 2025, it now aims to achieve an ROE of more than 13%, supported by a cost-to-income ratio of between 45% and 47%. Nordea will present its financial targets and plans for the new strategy on Feb. 17.

➤ Europe's banks urged to wait and see before cutting loan loss reserves

The money banks set aside against future bad loans includes so-called management overlays, which the ECB is scrutinizing.

➤Santander to be 'part of process' as Citi plans Mexico sale, Botín says

The Spanish lender expects to be among the potential bidders for Citigroup's retail banking operations in one of Latin America's largest markets, the bank's executive chair said.

➤ Swiss private bank Julius Bär expects M&A opportunities to increase

"You should expect us to create additional critical mass in our core markets," CEO Philipp Rickenbacher said.

EARNINGS SPOTLIGHT

* Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA recorded a fourth-quarter 2021 net attributable profit of €1.34 billion, compared to the year-ago €1.32 billion. The Spanish lender's full-year 2021 net attributable profit rose year over year to €4.65 billion from €1.31 billion. BBVA will propose a dividend of 23 cents gross per share for 2021.

* Danske Bank A/S' group net profit attributable to shareholders of the bank amounted to 3.55 billion Danish kroner, up from 1.33 billion kroner a year before. For full year 2021, the bank's attributable net profit was 12.47 billion kroner, compared to 4.04 billion kroner in 2020. The bank intends to pay out a total dividend of 7.5 kroner per share for 2021. An initial dividend payment of 2 kroner per share will be proposed at its annual general meeting, while the remaining 5.5 kroner per share will be paid out in three tranches.

* Unicaja Banco SA's fourth-quarter 2021 net loss widened year over year to €18 million from €17 million. For full year 2021, the Spanish bank reported a 47.2% year-over-year rise in net income to €137 million from €93 million.

* Turkiye Garanti Bankasi A.S. reported a net profit attributable to equity holders of 12.94 billion Turkish lira for full year 2021, a sharp increase from 6.31 billion lira a year earlier.

BANKING

* Raiffeisen Bank International AG set aside provisions worth €25 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 for geopolitical risk in Ukraine as well as provisions worth €21 million for potential sanctions on Russia, Bloomberg News reported. The Austria-based lender has a €22.9 billion exposure to Russia, of which roughly 9% could be exposed to sanction risks, the news agency noted.

* The buyout group seeking to acquire Aareal Bank AG has received acceptances from 29.45% of the German bank's shareholders as of Feb. 1. The group has set a minimum acceptance threshold of 60% of all the bank's shares. The extended acceptance period for the offer expires Feb. 2.

* Swiss prosecutors have ordered former Credit Suisse Group AG Chairman António Horta-Osório to pay a CHF2,000 penalty for breaking quarantine rules, Reuters reported. The fine is not yet legally binding, but Horta-Osório has accepted the ruling.

* Austria-based BAWAG Group AG is expanding into the U.S. through the acquisition of community bank Peak Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Idaho First Bank, for $65 million.

* Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA said it has added a corporate governance item concerning CEO Guido Bastianini to the agenda of its board of directors' meeting on Feb. 7. The Italian bank's board is expected to fire Guido Bastianini as CEO in the meeting if he does not resign earlier, according to Il Messaggero.

* Sberbank of Russia CEO Herman Gref supports a ban on cryptocurrency payments but he is against measures that would restrict the ownership of crypto and stablecoins, Kommersant wrote.

* Russia-based Promsvyazbank Public Joint-Stock Co. has acquired local nonstate pension fund NPF Gefest, Kommersant reported. The estimated price of the transaction reportedly amounted to between 400 million rubles and 600 million rubles, equivalent to roughly 10% of the fund's pension assets.

* Belgian bank Argenta Spaarbank NV wants to use the €600 million it received from large investors to provide new green bonds or to refinance existing green bonds, De Tijd reported.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* Italian debt recovery firm DoValue SpA is expected to win a mandate to manage a nonperforming loan portfolio of Greek bank Alpha Services and Holdings SA with a total gross value of €2.2 billion, MF reported, noting that the two bidders for the acquisition of the portfolio — Cerberus and a consortium of Bain and Fortress—are intending to use doValue as their servicer.

* HQ Asset Management, a part of HQ Holding, will be discontinued in the middle of the year, Handelsblatt reported. The unit manages about €100 million and has ten employees. There had been a total of about ten serious interested parties for a stake of about 50%, but none had been able to meet all the criteria around sales issues and the necessary capital backing.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* Ukraine's central bank will raise reserve ratios that banks are required to hold current accounts, Delo.ua reported. Starting from Feb. 10, the required reserve ratio on hryvnia-denominated current accounts will increase from 0% to 2%, while the reserve ratio on foreign currency accounts will go up to 12% from 10%.

Erin Tanchico, Daniel Stephens, Meike Wijers, Gerard O'Dwyer, Beata Fojcik, Heather O'Brian, Brian McCulloch, Praxilla Trabattoni and Mariana Aldano contributed to this report.

The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.