Dutch bank ING on May 05 said net profit rose 12.3 percent in the first quarter and that it aims to pay within a year bailout money it owes the government from the 2008 financial meltdown.
Net profit rose to 1.38 billion euros ($2.0 billion dollars) in the first quarter of fiscal 2011, from 1.23 billion euros a year ago. It beat expectations of analysts cited by Dow Jones Newswires of around 1.32 billion euros.
ING accepted a 10-billion-euro cash injection from the Dutch government in October 2008 at the height of the global economic crisis.
"We still have to pay back about five billion euros and that's without the repayment premiums," ING spokeswoman Caroline van der Giessen told AFP, saying two billion euros would have been paid back by May 13 this year.
"We aim to repay the remaining support by May 2012," the bank said in a statement.
ING is raising funds for repayment including by selling its subsidiaries online bank ING Direct USA and Dutch bank WestlandUtrecht.
"We continue to explore strategic options for our Latin American insurance business and we are taking steps to meet the other restructering demands... including the divestment of ING Direct USA and the carve-out of WestlandUtrecht Bank from our Dutch retail banking business," said the company's top executive.
"The restructuring of the group is on track," added Jan Hommen, ING group's chief executive officer in a statement.
"We continue to work towards the full separation of banking and insurance activities," he added.
The Dutch group said it was laying the groundwork for two initial public offerings (IPOs) of its insurance business - one in the United States, and another based in Europe and Asia.