ING's Defense Loan Book Could Double in Next Couple of Years, CEO Says -- Interview

By Adria Calatayud

Dutch bank ING Groep is building up a loan book in the defense industry and its chief executive expects the portfolio to grow fast, in a sign of how the effects of Europe's push to rearm are reverberating across sectors.

"We want to stay diversified, but for now there is ample opportunity," ING Chief Executive Steven van Rijswijk said in an interview. "I can easily see that this book will double in the next couple of years."

ING changed its policy toward defense projects last year, saying it would meet the industry's funding needs provided they were aimed at supporting and increasing Europe's resilience. The policy still prevents the bank from funding controversial weapons and requires it to carefully screen defense companies that request funding or other banking services, it says.

Since then, the bank's defense loan book has gone from almost nil to more than 2 billion euros ($2.29 billion) currently across the European defense value chain, Van Rijswijk said. While still a small fraction of ING's total portfolio of more than 750 billion euros, Van Rijswijk said defense is a focus area for the bank.

Executives at several European banks have pointed to growth opportunities from Europe's efforts to build back its arms industry, which is hungry for funding amid rising defense budgets across the continent. Lenders such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank recently said they saw rising demand for funding from companies in the defense sector.

ING's CEO said there is demand not only from manufacturers of weapons or defense mechanisms, but also from drone companies, providers of cybersecurity technology and their supply chains.

"That's going to be an important industry in Europe," Van Rijswijk said. "How big that's going to be remains to be seen."

ING is financing defense projects in countries including Poland, Germany, Italy and France, but has refrained from setting a specific long-term target for its activities in the industry.

"The primary goal is to support customers and to support Europe and to do that in a profitable way," Van Rijswijk said. "If you say 'Well, we want to at least have this much' you don't become critical anymore as to how to manage the risks."

The CEO's comments came after ING earlier on Thursday raised its top-line and profitability guidance for this year and next. It now expects total income above 24.5 billion euros and a return on tangible equity--a key profitability metric for banks--exceeding 15% this year, against previous forecasts of around 24 billion euros and more than 14%, respectively.

The bank is adding more customers and doing more with them while adopting capital-efficiency measures, which gave it increased confidence to raise its forecasts, Van Rijswijk said.

For the second quarter, ING made a net profit of 1.95 billion euros, up 16%, on total income that climbed 10% to 6.28 billion euros.

Analysts had expected net profit at 1.86 billion euros and total income at 6.12 billion euros, according to consensus estimates compiled by the bank.

Shares in ING were up 4% in European afternoon trading.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2026 08:16 ET (12:16 GMT)