ING Profit Drops as Interest Rates Weigh on Lending Income (1)

ING Groep NV profit fell in the second quarter, as growth in fees and commissions wasn’t enough to fully offset the decline in lending income.

The largest bank in the Netherlands reported a 5.9% drop in net income from a year earlier, to €1.68 billion ($1.92 billion), better than the €1.54 billion estimate by analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Fees rose 12% while net interest income fell 7.7% from a year earlier.

Led by Chief Executive Officer Steven van Rijswijk, ING has been trying to offset the impact of falling interest rates by boosting fee-earning businesses, with a target ...