ING raises 2027 profitability target as fee income and commercial activity outperform

ING Group, the Amsterdam-based banking group, has raised its profitability target for 2027, telling investors it now expects to generate a return on tangible equity of more than 16%, up from the 14% goal it laid out at its 2024 Capital Markets Day. Management confirmed the upgraded guidance in September 2026, attributing the change to commercial activity and fee income that has outpaced the bank’s original projections.

Alongside the higher return target, ING said it now expects full-year 2027 revenue to exceed 26 billion euros. On the cost side, the bank lowered its projection to approximately 13 billion euros — about 300 million euros below what it had previously guided — pointing to efficiency gains layered on top of the stronger revenue outlook.

The upgrade adds ING to a group of large European banks that have used 2026 earnings updates to raise medium-term targets set years earlier, as elevated interest rates and steadier fee-generating businesses have outperformed the more conservative assumptions baked into original multi-year plans. ING has not detailed a specific breakdown of which fee-income lines or commercial segments are driving the improvement beyond the topline figures disclosed.