On October 1st, ING announced the start of a share buyback programme under which it plans to repurchase ordinary shares of ING Groep, with a maximum total value of €1,744 million and for a number of shares not exceeding the authority granted by the general meeting of shareholders (10% of the issued shares). The share buyback programme will commence on 5 October 2021 and is expected to end no later than 5 May 2022. The purpose of the share buyback programme is to reduce the share capital of ING.
“ING aims to provide an attractive return to shareholders and this buyback will help optimise our capital structure’, says Steven van Rijswijk, CEO ING Group. ‘While supporting our customers during the pandemic we also succeeded in generating capital and are able to launch this programme based on our strong capital position’.
ING Group’s CET1 ratio was 15.7% at the end of the second quarter of 2021. The announced share buyback programme will be done from capital reserved outside of regulatory capital and will not impact our CET1 ratio.
The ECB has lifted its recommendation to limit shareholder remuneration until 30 September 2021 and has approved the share buyback programme, which will be executed within the limitations of the existing authority granted by the general meeting of shareholders on 26 April 2021 and in compliance with the Market Abuse Regulation. ING has entered into a non-discretionary arrangement with a financial intermediary to conduct the buyback.
ING will provide weekly updates on the progress of the programme via a press release and on the Investor Relations section of the ING website: http://www.ing.com/share-buyback-programme.
