(by Dr.Goldfinger)

Dutch bank and insurance group ING said second quarter net profits fell 11.9% to 1.64 billion euros due to a year-ago 697 million euro gain on reserve revaluation, but operating profits rose 37.7% to 1.6 billion euros. Analyst had estimated operating profits between 1.08 billion and 1.28 billion euros. ING’s banking arm saw an impressive 65.3 per cent increase in operating net profits to €1.3bn after higher mortgage lending and savings at its retail bank, improvements in credit quality at its wholesale bank - which includes smaller business banking - and a big improvement in the contribution of ING Direct, its internet and phone banking business.