ING Groep, the largest Dutch bank, on Thursday announced its second share buyback programme of the year, of up to 2.5 billion euros ($2.65 billion), following third-quarter net profits that more than doubled from the previous year. The bank, which serves more than 38 million customers, stressed that it remains vigilant as global economic growth is slowing. The net interest income (NII), a key measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, reached 4.03 billion euros in the quarter, below 4.12 billion euros expected in a company-compiled consensus. Net additions to loan loss provisions amounted to 183 million euros, lower than 322 million euros expected in the company-compiled consensus, partially due to what Chief Risk Officer Ljiljana Cortan described as "successful de-risking from Russia". The bank's net profit rose 103% to 1.98 billion euros between July and September, beating the 1.83 billion euros in the company-compiled consensus.

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Persons: Banks, Steven van Rijswijk, NII, Jefferies, Ljiljana Cortan, That's Organizations: ING Groep, Treasury, Financial Markets, ING, HSBC, UniCredit, BBVA, Deutsche Bank Locations: Russia