ING favours bolt-on acquisitions over bigger deals as it seeks to unify offering

By Jakob Van Calster and Mateusz Rabiega

July 30 (Reuters) - Amsterdam-based bank ING is focused on "filling in the blanks" in its products and markets through organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions, rather than pursuing large-scale deals, CEO Steven van Rijswijk said on Thursday.

He pointed to recent deals in Spain and Poland to enter the private wealth segment, a service it has provided elsewhere but not in those markets yet.

The strategy forms part of ING's broader effort to increase fee and commission income and reduce its reliance on interest-rate driven revenue by focusing on monetising everyday banking services and growing its private banking, investment, and wealth management operations. 

Van Rijswijk said that ING, which offers retail and wholesale banking services to customers in more than 100 countries, should aspire to raise its fee income to 25-35% of total income over time, a level he said was typical of most peers in Europe. He did not provide a definite timeline for the target.

"I'm very quickly growing my fees ... at the same time, the interest rate grows as well. Of course, I can't complain, I can't say, 'damn it, now we also have good interest'. But when I get some headwinds, I want to have a larger fee base," he told Reuters.

In its earnings report earlier on Thursday, ING said it was targeting fee income of around 20% of total income by the end of 2025, rising to about 21% by the end of 2027.

(Reporting by Jakob Van Calster and Mateusz Rabiega, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)