Dutch Financial conglomerate ING posted 17.8% fall in underlying net profit for the second quarter of 2012, which was €1.04bn, compared to €1.52bn during the same period last year.
The diversified financial startup blamed Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, which continued to intensify and continued financial market volatility, impacted its earning across the globe.
ING Group CEO Jan Hommen said in these uncertain times the financial strength of the company is its highest priority: capital, liquidity and funding have all improved.
"As the eurozone crisis deteriorated, we accelerated our efforts to de-risk the investment portfolio at the Bank, and brought down our Spanish exposure to reduce the funding mismatch in that country. At Insurance, we continued to hedge to protect regulatory capital, leading to volatility in IFRS earnings," Hommen said.
For the latest quarter period, the group's bank arm underlying result before tax stood at €995m, a decrease of 13.1% year-on-year and 11.6% lower than in the first quarter of 2012.
Insurance operating result improved to €304m, while underlying result before tax was €229m, including hedge gains and the change in the provision for separate account pension contracts in the Benelux.
ING said it sustained a loss of €178m on the sale of risk assets, mainly its holdings of Spanish government bonds.
During October 2008, when the financial market devastated due to Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the Dutch firm infused €10bn to keep running its business.
