ING's Lower Fee Income Overshadows CEO Hamers's `Solid' Quarter

ING Groep NV made less money from fees and commissions in the first quarter, setting back Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers’s plan to reduce reliance on lending. The 3.1 percent decline in net commission income from a year earlier overshadowed a quarter in which the company attracted 400,000 new clients and posted net income that beat analysts’ estimates. While fees at ING are dwarfed by income from lending, also known as interest income, they are a key part of Hamers’s effort to grow in areas and markets that are more resilient to the ultra-low interest rates that plague Europe’s lenders.