The Dutch bank has, among other moves, expanded its footprint in the German private banking and wealth sector in recent years.

ABN AMRO today reported a second-quarter 2024 profit of €642 million ($700 million), down by 26 per cent on a year earlier. Expenses rose 11 per cent to €1.263 billion and operating income dipped 2 per cent.

The Netherlands-headquartered bank said that because of the “favourable interest rate environment,” it has adjusted its net interest income outlook upwards to more than €6.4 billion for 2024.

At the end of June, the bank said it had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a standard international measure of shock absorber capital – of 13.8 per cent. 

ABN AMRO set an interim dividend of €0.6 per share. Return on average equity fell to 10.8 per cent from 16.2 per cent. 

German expansion
During the reporting period the bank built out its northwest European wealth management and corporate banking services by the purchase in late May of Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe. ABN AMRO bought the business from China-based Fosun for €672 million. It already operates a German private banking business, Bethmann. The Frankfurt-based bank, which has branches across Germany, has been building a presence in Germany for some time.

Although the profit figure fell in the quarter, chief executive Robert Swaak described today’s results as marking “another strong quarter.”

“We are continuing our efforts to improve our client services and product offering. For personal and business banking, we have been able to sustain the net promoter score (NPS), following a strong improvement [in the] previous quarter. Within corporate banking the NPS increased in both commercial clients (+12) and corporate and institutional banking (+13) compared with FY2023,” Swaak said. 

“The recent acquisition of German private bank Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe will greatly increase our footprint in the German market, while the acquisition of neobroker Bux will broaden our product offering and digital product capabilities,” he said.