Latest news with #ABNAMRO
Finextra
a day ago
- Business
- Finextra
ABN Amro joins CLSSettlement
CLS, a financial market infrastructure group delivering settlement, processing and data solutions, today announced that ABN AMRO has re-joined CLSSettlement as a settlement member effective May 5. 0 The bank joins 73 other leading banks in becoming a settlement member in CLSSettlement. ABN AMRO was part of the first group of settlement members that went live in CLSSettlement when the service launched in 2002. It subsequently transitioned to indirect participation as a third-party participant in 2009. The bank's recent decision to re-join as a settlement member highlights its commitment to reducing FX settlement risk and improving operational efficiency through payment-versus-payment (PvP) solutions. CLSSettlement is recognized as the global standard for FX settlement risk mitigation, settling over USD7 trillion of payment instructions daily across 18 of the most traded currencies. As the FX market evolves, the demand for secure and efficient settlement mechanisms continues to grow, particularly among financial institutions seeking to align with the settlement risk best practices outlined in Principle 35 of the FX Global Code1. Additionally, ABN AMRO will offer third-party access to CLSSettlement for its clients, further demonstrating its commitment to implementing robust FX settlement risk management practices and operational excellence within the broader FX ecosystem. Lisa Danino-Lewis, Chief Growth Officer, CLS said: 'We are delighted to welcome ABN AMRO as a settlement member to CLSSettlement. The bank's decision reflects the wider benefits of CLS's PvP settlement system, such as our approach to multilateral netting and the in/out swap tool which delivers capital and liquidity efficiencies. Settlement members who use both solutions only fund around 1%2 of the total value of their payment instructions on a typical day, enabling cash flow to be available for other business operations like trading, sales and business growth.' Jacco Keijzer, Head of Global Markets, ABN AMRO commented: 'Mitigating FX settlement risk has always been a priority for ABN AMRO. As a long-standing participant in CLSSettlement, we recognize the value it brings to our operations while supporting our adherence to global best practices. Becoming a settlement member reflects our dedication to creating a more robust and efficient FX ecosystem, while ensuring our FX operations uphold the highest standards of operational efficiency and risk mitigation.'
CNBC
04-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
CNBC's UK Exchange newsletter: A lament for the losses on Royal Bank of Scotland
In my more than 30 years in financial journalism, few memories are stronger than those of Tuesday, April 22, 2008, the day Royal Bank of Scotland — then one of the world's biggest banks — announced it was tapping shareholders for £12 billion ($16 billion). The sum was, at the time, a record for a rights issue by a European company and followed the U.K. bank's calamitous acquisition, the previous autumn, of the Dutch lender ABN AMRO. That deal was supposed to have been the crowning glory of Fred Goodwin, the RBS chief executive, a former accountant who, for the previous eight years, had established himself as the sector's biggest name following RBS' takeover of National Westminster Bank (NatWest) in early 2000. As deputy to CEO George Mathewson, Goodwin had earned the nickname "Fred The Shred" for his cost-cutting prowess. He was no shrinking violet; nor was Mathewson himself, who won notoriety in 2001 when he shrugged off shareholder criticism of that year's executive bonuses by saying "they would not win bragging power in a Soho wine bar." That confidence ran right through RBS. In March 2001, barely a year after the NatWest acquisition completed, Goodwin — in a typically laconic remark — told me he was contemplating "mercy killings" of other U.K. banks. Those killings never came to pass but, in the subsequent six years, RBS quadrupled in size as it made a string of acquisitions including of U.K. insurers Churchill and Direct Line, the U.S. lender Charter One (for a then eye-watering $10.5 billion), a 10% stake in Bank of China and, somewhat improbably, the car dealership Dixon Motors in April 2002. That year saw him crowned Businessman of the Year by Forbes magazine. By the time he launched the bid for ABN AMRO in April 2007, trumping a deal the latter had previously agreed with Barclays, Goodwin was top dog in U.K. banking. All of which made that rights issue in April 2008 so dramatic. A press conference was hastily convened for midday at RBS's old London headquarters. (The global head office, opened in 2005, was a gigantic campus at Gogarburn, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, built at a cost of £350 million on a site formerly occupied by a psychiatric hospital and nicknamed "Fred's Folly" by locals). I took my place in the presentation center on the ground floor of the building alongside Peter Thal Larsen, then banking editor of the Financial Times, as Tom McKillop, the career pharmacist who had succeeded Mathewson as RBS chairman in 2006, thanked us for coming and invited Goodwin to make his presentation. Gone was the super-confident figure to whom we had become accustomed. "He looks like a condemned man mounting the scaffold," I whispered to Peter. During the press conference, McKillop had to fend off questions about whether Goodwin would be dismissed, pushing back at suggestions that the board were "patsies" who had not sufficiently challenged their CEO. "There is no single individual responsible for these events, and to look for a sacrificial lamb just misses the whole point," McKillop said. I wrote in my diary that night: "McKillop came close to losing it a couple of times, particularly when grilled on the board composition. Fred Goodwin looked chastened but composed." This wasn't an investment — it was a rescue Memories of that day came flooding back when, at the end of last week, the U.K. government finally sold its remaining shareholding in NatWest (as RBS was rechristened in July 2020). By the time RBS got its money in 2008, its share price had fallen by a quarter, wiping more from its stock market value than it raised in the rights issue. On Oct. 7, 2008, with corporate customers rushing to withdraw their money, McKillop was forced to ask Alistair Darling, the then Chancellor, for a bailout that eventually cost Goodwin his job. As has been well documented, Gordon Brown's government took control of the bank, pumping in £45.5 billion in 2008 and 2009 to acquire a stake that peaked at nearly 85%. Over the years, the government has recouped some £35 billion via fees, dividends and share sales, crystallizing a loss on disposal of nearly £10.5 billion. That figure has, naturally, featured heavily in U.K. media coverage. However, much of the commentary has overlooked that the government concluded more than a decade ago that a loss would be made on the shareholding, as well as the fact that this was never supposed to be an investment generating a positive return for taxpayers — it was a rescue. One commentator even suggested RBS/NatWest should have been allowed to fail, arguing that "we could have surely done something more productive with all the money that was tied up in NatWest for the last 17 years," rather overlooking the catastrophic impact the bank's failure would have had. At the time of the rescue, RBS's balance sheet was bigger than the entire U.K. economy. That the U.K. taxpayer lost £10.5 billion over a 17-year period is, of course, depressing. But it is compounded by the fact that, during the period, RBS/NatWest was obliged to offload a number of valuable assets, including Direct Line and its U.S. banking business Citizens, as conditions of its bail-out (the U.K. was, at the time, subject to the European Commission's state aid rules). Much money was also wasted trying to carve out a separate retail bank which was to have been demerged in the name of enhancing competition, again at the behest of Europe, under the exhumed Williams & Glyn brand. Saddest of all was the forced sale of WorldPay, a payments processing business, to U.S. private equity firms Bain Capital and Advent International for just $3 billion in August 2010. The business was later floated on the London Stock Exchange, later still taken private and then sold in March 2019 to the U.S. fintech firm FIS for $43 billion — a considerably bigger loss of value than anything endured by the U.K. government on its RBS/NatWest shares. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that had the U.K. not been bound by the European Commission's state aid rules, as is the case today, the destruction of value would have been far lower. A couple of things are probably more important, longer term, than any loss incurred by taxpayers. The first is that the lessons from the RBS collapse have been properly learned. Many people now working in senior positions in U.K. financial services were still at school or college at the time of the bailout, but institutional memory of the event remains exceptionally strong, not least among U.K. regulators. The main reason RBS failed, exacerbated by the hubristic ABN AMRO acquisition and the procyclical U.K. financial regulations at the time, was because it was over-leveraged. Post-financial-crisis regulation has aimed at reducing procyclicality and banks have been obliged to increase their capital buffers. The second is that under Goodwin's successors — Stephen Hester, Ross McEwan, Alison Rose and Paul Thwaite — RBS/NatWest has been reshaped into a financially robust and highly profitable lender well-placed to contribute to U.K. growth in coming years thanks, in particular, to its strong position in business banking. Much of the profit it throws off in the coming years is likely to be handed back to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buy-backs. On that basis, while some will celebrate the fact that a line has been drawn by the government removing itself from NatWest's shareholder register, others will question why, exactly, it could not have held onto its shareholding for a little longer. It would be interesting to hear what readers think.'We can't afford not to do this': Former defense secretary talks UK arms spend Former U.K. Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt tells Silvia Amaro the UK's new defense spend pledge "is not worth the paper it's written on" without the money to accompany it. Jim O'Neil: Donald Trump is undermining the cyclical and structural outlook for the U.S. dollar Jim O'Neil, former U.K. Treasury Minister and former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, joins CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" to discuss how the U.S. dollar's global dominance may be challenged, whether alternatives to the dollar exist, and more. Who owns London's (privately owned) public spaces? Privately-owned public spaces — or POPS — have transformed cities over the past sixty years. But their ownership is regularly questioned — and with it, their design, accessibility and what they've put on a war footing with defense overhaul — but is it too little, too late? Analysts and economists argue that the U.K.'s new defense spending plans could ultimately prove to be too little, too late — and may be difficult to deliver, given fiscal constraints in the U.K. UK growth to be reined in by public finance squeeze, OECD warns. While the budget deficit is expected to improve from 5.3% in 2025 to 4.5% in 2026, according to OECD forecasts, debt interest spending remains high. Trump's visa ban could be Britain's big break in the race for top Chinese talent. British universities are preparing to attract international Chinese students after President Donald Trump's administration cracked down on visas for Chinese students studying in the U.S.U.K. stocks have kicked off the new month with a whimper rather than a bang, with both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 near-flat over the last two sessions. That's more so a reflection of broadly cautious market sentiment than negativity toward U.K. assets, as uncertainty over the global trade outlook continues to muddy the trading waters. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's defense spending plan gave a modest boost to stocks in the sector such as Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Babcock, all of which have soared in the year-to-date. Sterling, meanwhile, has seen a solid few sessions despite a dip Tuesday, with the pound back above the $1.35 level. The greenback has become one of the most punished assets on the back of U.S. tariff tensions, which ratcheted up late last week following President Donald Trump's announcement of 50% duties on steel imports.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dutch state reduces stake in ABN AMRO to around 30%
The Dutch government has lowered its stake in ABN AMRO to below one-third, aligning with the plan unveiled in October 2024. Last year, NLFI, which manages the interests of the Dutch state in the bank, revealed plans to trim its holding in the bank to almost 30% from 40.5%. Following the stake reduction, NLFI's rights within the relationship agreement will be altered, although the agreement itself will continue to be in effect. The strategy to divest its shares has been implementing since early 2023, reported Reuters. The decrease from the previous 40.5% holding means NLFI will no longer have prior approval rights over certain decisions. It includes the issuance of new shares or the approval of investments or divestments by ABN AMRO or its subsidiaries that represent more than 10% of the bank's equity. ABN AMRO was nationalised in 2008 and subsequently re-privatised in 2015. In Q1 2025, ABN AMRO disclosed a net profit of €619m, down by 8% from €674m in the same quarter of the previous year. The bank's operating income was €2.14bn in Q1 2025, a decrease of 2% from €2.19bn in the Q1 2024. However, operating expenses rose 4% year-on-year. Meanwhile, in 2024, ABN AMRO went live on nCino's Cloud Banking Platform. The bank is using nCino across its corporate lending business, and for collateral management across all its business lines. "Dutch state reduces stake in ABN AMRO to around 30% " was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ABN AMRO Bank posts net profit of EUR 619 million in Q1 2025
ABN AMRO Bank posts net profit of EUR 619 million in Q1 2025 14 May 2025 Key messages Solid results: Net profit of EUR 619 million, with a return on equity of around 10% Good business momentum: Mortgage portfolio grew by EUR 1.7 billion and corporate loans by EUR 0.9 billion Resilient net interest income despite impact from lower short-term interest rates Continued fee growth: Increase of 8% compared to Q1 2024, with contributions from all client units Cost discipline: Underlying costs declined 5% compared to Q4 2024; guidance for full-year 2025 unchanged Solid credit quality: Impairments of EUR 5 million, reflecting net additions for individual files offset by model-related releases Strong capital position: Basel IV CET1 ratio of 14.7% Capital Markets Day to be held in November Marguerite Bérard, CEO:'As we reflect on the first quarter of 2025, I am honoured to address you as the new CEO of ABN AMRO. I value the trust placed in me by the Supervisory Board to lead our bank in the years to come. In the coming period, my priority will be to lead a strategic review of our activities, while building upon our solid foundations and strong market positions. We will focus on enhancing our profitability, optimising our capital position, right-sizing our cost base and achieving meaningful growth. The outcome of this review will be presented at a Capital Markets Day in November this year. The Dutch economy continues to demonstrate resilience, with GDP growth in recent years above the Eurozone average, low unemployment and good housing market performance. Thanks to this robust foundation, the economy is well-positioned to navigate the current uncertainties around trade tensions and geopolitical developments. In these challenging times, ABN AMRO performed well, delivering another quarter of solid results and growth in our loan books. This reflects our strategic focus on key growth areas, our credit quality and our ability to adapt to changing market conditions. In the first quarter of 2025, we showed solid results with a net profit of EUR 619 million and a return on equity of around 10%. This performance was underpinned by resilient net interest income, continued high fee income and limited net impairments. After a few quarters of rising costs, we managed to reduce our underlying costs in Q1 compared to the previous quarter. To deliver on our guidance of keeping underlying costs broadly flat compared to last year, cost discipline remains a priority. Therefore, we enforced increased controls on consultant expenditures and external hiring. Though challenging for colleagues, as we all need to adjust, it will help us reassess capacity needs and optimise our resources. By collaborating and using our creativity and talents, I believe we can deliver on our strategic ambitions while becoming a more agile organisation. Our strong capital position, with a Basel IV CET1 ratio of 14.7%, allows us to continue investing in our strategic priorities while maintaining financial stability. In Q1, we submitted the final application to move models to less sophisticated approaches which is now reflected in our capital ratios. The simplification will bring stability and predictability to our capital position. The largest part of our balance sheet remains under advanced models, specifically mortgages, banks and financial institutions. Portfolios that required significant modelling and data efforts will be moved to the standardised approach. Our continued efforts to improve customer experience resulted in an increase in our Net Promoter Score for Personal & Business Banking during the first quarter of 2025. Clients especially praise our efficient and good customer services, proactive contact, and the convenience of our digital services. This was also recognised by the 2024 Digital Leaders Study, which ranked ABN AMRO among the top performers. Tikkie, with 10 million active users, is a good example of our innovative offering. During King's Day this year, Tikkie processed a record number of almost 700,000 transactions. We also introduced the Index Mandate, an actively-managed product that invests in underlying passive instruments. With this product we aim to attract younger clients and help them begin with portfolio management. We remain dedicated to sustainability. In the first quarter we launched the free online Green Building Tool which helps provide commercial real estate clients with insights into opportunities to save energy and improve their energy label. We realise that making the switch to a sustainable society is not always straightforward for our clients. A survey among over 350 business clients at our decarbonisation conference revealed challenges in the energy transition, including high capital expenditure, complexity and cost impacts. We aim to support our clients towards a low-carbon future by providing financing and expertise. One example of how we can help them is our recent agreement with the EIB Group to support Dutch SMEs with favourable financing conditions. This collaboration will enhance economic growth and the sustainability efforts of our clients. It includes the largest risk-sharing agreement with the EIB Group to date, totalling EUR 1 billion. ABN AMRO believes that everyday represents a new beginning for our customers, and for whom we stand ready to support. I am looking forward to my 'new beginning', collaborating with all my colleagues to deliver results for our stakeholders in the years to come. This press release is published by ABN AMRO Bank N.V. and contains inside information within the meaning of article 7 (1) to (4) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (Market Abuse Regulation). Note to editors, not for publication:ABN AMRO Press Office: Jarco de Swart, E-mail: pressrelations@ phone number: +31 (0)20 AMRO Investor Relations: John Heijning, E-mail: investorrelations@ phone number +31 (0)20 6282282. Operating results (in millions) Q1 2025 Q1 2024 Change Q4 2024 Change Net interest income 1,560 1,589 -2% 1,668 -7% Net fee and commission income 507 469 8% 500 1% Other operating income 79 139 -43% 72 10% Operating income 2,145 2,197 -2% 2,240 -4% Personnel expenses 725 656 10% 743 -2% Other expenses 584 600 -3% 871 -33% Operating expenses 1,309 1,257 4% 1,614 -19% Operating result 836 940 -11% 626 34% Impairment charges on financial instruments 5 3 52% 9 -44% Profit/(loss) before taxation 831 937 -11% 618 35% Income tax expense 212 263 -19% 220 -4% Profit/(loss) for the period 619 674 -8% 397 56% Attributable to: Owners of the parent company 619 674 -8% 397 56% Other indicators Net interest margin (NIM) (in bps) 154 162 167 Cost/income ratio 61.0 % 57.2 % 72.0 % Cost of risk (in bps)¹ 1 -1 1 Return on average equity² 9.9 % 11.6 % 6.2 % Earnings per share (in EUR)3, 4 0.69 0.76 0.43 Client assets (end of period, in billions) 346.9 347.1 344.4 Risk-weighted assets (end of period, in billions)5 141.5 144.2 140.9 Number of internal employees (end of period, in FTEs) 22,267 20,887 21,976 Number of external employees (end of period, in FTEs) 3,312 3,931 3,670 1. Annualised impairment charges on loans and advances customers for the period divided by the average loans and advances customers (excluding at fair value through P&L) on the basis of gross carrying amount and excluding fair value adjustments from hedge accounting. 2. Annualised profit/(loss) for the period, excluding payments attributable to AT1 capital securities and results attributable to non-controlling interests, divided by the average equity attributable to the owners of the company excluding AT1 capital securities. 3. Profit/(loss) for the period, excluding payments attributable to AT1 capital securities and results attributable to non-controlling interests, divided by the average outstanding and paid-up ordinary shares. 4. For Q1 2025, the average number of outstanding shares amounted to 833,048,566 (Q4 2024: 833,048,566; Q1 2024: 860,275,379). 5. As of 1 January 2025, the figures in the table are prepared in accordance with CRR III (Basel IV) regulations. The figures up to 31 December 2024 are prepared in accordance with CRR II (Basel III) regulations. Attachments ABN_AMRO_Bank_-_Quarterly_Report_first_quarter_2025 20250514 ABN AMRO Bank posts net profit of EUR 619 million in Q1 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Finextra
12-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
BUX CEO Yorick Naeff named ABN Amro head of innovation
BUX announces that CEO and co-founder Yorick Naeff will take on the role of Head of Innovation at ABN AMRO, effective February 1, 2026. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. Yorick has led BUX since 2020, overseeing its expansion across Europe and its evolution into a leading platform for long-term investing. Under his leadership, BUX has grown its product offering, expanded into new markets, and built a strong position in the European retail investment space. Following ABN AMRO's acquisition of BUX in July 2024, Yorick has played a key role in guiding the integration process between the two companies. He will continue to serve as CEO of BUX during the transition period, ensuring continuity and a successful completion of the integration, which is expected in early 2026. Carsten Bittner, Chief Information & Technology Officer at ABN AMRO, stated: 'I am delighted to have Yorick join our team as Head of Innovation. With his strong vision and experience, he will accelerate innovation within ABN AMRO, particularly in our strategic areas such as generative AI, embedded finance, and digital assets. I look forward to working with him.' This leadership transition marks a new chapter for both BUX and ABN AMRO as they work together to shape the future of digital investing and innovation in financial services. BUX will announce Yorick's successor as CEO in due course.
