De Volksbank posts 2016 net profit of € 329 million

Update on strategy

• SNS Bank N.V. renamed de Volksbank N.V. as from 1 January 2017, to
  emphasise the course the bank has set to strengthen its identity as a
  social, people-oriented and sustainable bank
• Focus on optimising ‘shared value’ for customers, society, employees and our shareholder

Banking with a human touch

• Improvement in overall customer satisfaction score; several banking
  industry-specific awards; successful rollout of ‘Mortgage term
  monitoring service’
• Employee NPS of 30% (2015: 34%)
• 23% climate neutral balance sheet (2015: 20%)

Commercial developments

• De Volksbank welcomed 136,000 new current account customers: net growth of 88,000 (+7%)
• Sharp increase in new retail mortgage production to € 3.7 billion
  (+76%); market share new retail mortgages higher at 5.7% (2015: 4.1%);
  retail mortgage portfolio virtually stable at € 44.9 billion
• 1% decrease in retail savings balances to € 36.6 billion; slightly lower market share of 10.7%

Financial performance

• Lower net profit of € 329 million (2015: € 348 million), impacted
  by a swing in fair value movements of former DBV mortgages and related
  derivatives (-€ 36 million) and other one-off items
• The 2016 net profit includes a € 24 million net one-off provision for plans to improve operational efficiency
• Higher net profit excluding one-off items of € 354 million (2015: €
  335 million), with a substantial release of loan provisions and higher
  investment income more than compensating for the impact of lower net
  interest income and higher regulatory levies
• The release of loan provisions of € 68 million was mainly driven by
  a sharp decline of loans in arrears (2015: impairment charges of € 37
  million)
• Adjusted efficiency ratio higher at 56.0% (2015: 53.4%) due to lower income; adjusted operating expenses down by 2%
• Adjusted Return on Equity of 10.3% (2015: 10.7%)
• Increase in Common Equity Tier 1 ratio to 29.2% (2015: 25.3%); leverage ratio: 5.2% (2015: 4.7%)
• € 135 million dividend payment for 2016 to NLFI proposed (2015: € 100 million)