Dutch financial services firm ING today reported euro 499 million profit for the third quarter, helped by strong performance in banking and insurance business.
In the year-ago period, the company had a net loss of euro 478 million, ING said in a statement.
"ING achieved a strong commercial performance in the third quarter, illustrating the strength of our banking and insurance franchises even in this challenging economic environment," ING Group CEO Jan Hommen.
Meanwhile, in the insurance business, the company has witnessed a strong growth in all the regions---Asia Pacific, Europe and the US.
America emerged as the best performer as it swung into profit of euro 182 million from a net loss of euro 83 million, followed by Europe where net profit jumped to euro 157 million from euro 47 million in the year-ago period.
In Asia-Pacific region, ING's net profit in insurance business stood at euro 165 million in the July to September period of this year from euro 50 million in the prior year.
The company said, Asian region's results improved as "market-related impacts turned positive, mainly due to Japan SPVA".
At insurance arm, total underlying income in the Asian region declined to euro 2.12 billion in the third quarter of 2009 from euro 3.12 billion in the year-ago period.
The company has registered a net profit of euro 188 million in the overall banking sector compared with a loss of euro 128 million in the same quarter last year. ING's total underlying income increased to euro 3.16 billion from 2.62 billion euros in the year-ago period.
In addition, the overall insurance division net profit stood at euro 311 million, against a loss euro 350 million in year-ago. While total underlying income fell by 21.3 per cent to euro 9.03 billion.
ING said that operating expenses were reduced by euro 1 billion and expects to reach euro 1.3 billion target for the full year.
