ING shareholders will get double the dividend expected in 2015 if the ECB’s bank tests do not produce upsets for the Dutch banking giant, its chief financial officer said yesterday.

ING abandoned dividends after its €10 billion state bailout in 2008. It has promised to resume payments next year after a restructuring during which it shed its investment bank, insurance arm NN Group and cut thousands of jobs.ING’s banking arm, the mainstay of the group after the July listing of its insurance division, NN Group, posted pretax profits of €1.28 billion for the second quarter, ahead of expectations.

The profits were 11.4 per cent higher than the same period in 2013 as an improving Dutch economy led to a 38 per cent fall in loan losses. Net lending grew by €7.4 billion, well ahead of €5.1 billion in the first quarter. – (Reuters)