Sale of Asian private banking unit boosts ABN Amro’s earnings
ABN Amro reported on Wednesday second-quarter 2017 net earnings of €960m, a 45% increase over the €391m net reported in the year-earlier period.
The Amsterdam-based banking group said the sharply higher earnings were due in part to a €200m book profit on the sale of its Asian private banking activities. In addition, reduced costs also benefited the profitability of the bank, it said in a statement.
The continued growth of the Dutch economy and the rising housing market also boosted earnings, ABN Amro said.
In June, the Dutch government further reduced its shareholding in ABN Amro, selling a block representing 7% of the bank’s outstanding shares for €1.5bn. The state still holds 63% of ABN Amro shares.
Sales so far have yielded the state more than €6bn. However, it is unlikely that the government will be fully reimbursed for its 2008 rescue effort which cost taxpayers €21.7bn, experts say.
Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.
We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.
Make a donation