Category: 3. Business

Aston Martin has slashed £300m from its investment plans after the British sportscar maker reported a bigger than expected loss in the third quarter because of Donald Trump’s tariffs and weak demand in China.

The carmaker said on Wednesday that losses before tax were £112m in the third quarter of 2025, a ninefold increase from £12m a year earlier.

The brand, whose products are best known for featuring in the James Bond film franchise, has been buffeted by global pressures during a five-year turnaround effort that has been marked by perennial heavy losses.

Aston Martin had already warned earlier this month that this year’s profits would be lower than previously expected because of a decline in sales. It sold 1,430 cars to retailers during the third quarter of 2025, down 13% compared with the period last year.

Revenues over the first nine months of 2025 were down by 26% to £740m compared with almost £1bn a year earlier.

Adrian Hallmark, Aston Martin’s chief executive, said: “This year has been marked by significant macroeconomic headwinds, particularly the sustained impact of US tariffs and weak demand in China.

“Work is under way to review our future product cycle plan with the aim of optimising costs and capital investment while continuing to deliver innovative, class-leading products to meet customer demands and regulatory requirements.”

The manufacturer, which produces its vehicles in Warwickshire and south Wales, has already delayed the launch of its first electric model, and it cut 5% of its workforce in February. It said it would detail further changes early next year.

Aston delivered the first of its Valhalla supercars this month, which it hopes will improve the financial performance if it can deliver 150 in the last three months of the year. The company will make 999 of the mid-engined, plug-in hybrid cars, priced at £850,000 – or more than $1m a vehicle. Aston Martin said that more than half of the cars were already ordered by customers.

The company has been under the ownership of a group of investors led by the Canadian fashion tycoon Lawrence Stroll since early 2020. Stroll, who made his money through fashion brands including Michael Kors, hoped to make Aston Martin into a luxury brand to rival Italy’s Ferrari but immediately was forced to confront the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Since then, Aston Martin has been forced to go through a painful process of reducing the number of cars held by dealers, before production issues and weak Chinese demand cause a sales slump. Then Trump came along.

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The US president imposed a 25% tariff on automobile imports on 3 April, on top of an existing 2.5% levy, causing chaos in the global car industry and adding a huge cost to Aston Martin’s cars in one of its key markets.

Demand in China also remained “extremely subdued”, Aston Martin said, because of economic weakness and the imposition of a “luxury car tariff” on more cars from the end of July.

Stroll said that 2025 had brought “several unexpected challenges” but added that his confidence in the long-term future for the brand was “unwavering”.

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Operating profit has slumped at German carmaker Mercedes-Benz driven by the cost of restructuring, weak demand in China, US tariffs and provisions for potential car finance mis-selling in the UK.

In the period between July and September, the group recorded profit before interest and tax of €750mn, a 70 per cent decline on the same period the previous year. But the company maintained its full-year guidance and shares rose 6 per cent at the start of trading on Wednesday.

The profit fall was influenced by the cost of a major restructuring programme launched this year. Workforce cuts in Germany and restructuring overseas cost €876mn in the quarter, the company said.

Mercedes-Benz also made new provisions of a “mid-three-digit million euro amount” to cover the cost of claims related to potential car finance mis-selling in the UK. The British financial regulator the FCA this month presented a draft scheme redress scheme for customers affected.

The unadjusted operating profit figure was below analyst estimates compiled by Visible Alpha, which had expected EBIT of €1.5bn.

Mercedes-Benz has struggled with falling sales in China, where domestic carmakers have been winning market share from European rivals. The company’s global unit sales fell 12 per cent year on year in the third quarter, led by a 27 per cent drop in China.

The carmaker said that US tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump had also hit its profits in the third quarter, as had fluctuations in the exchange rate. Mercedes’s unit sales in the US fell 17 per cent in the quarter.

Sales in Europe have been more robust, increasing by 2 per cent in the third quarter.

Overall, the group reported revenues of €32.1bn in the third quarter, a decline of 6.9 per cent on the same period last year.

Battery-powered vehicles made up 21.8 per cent of its sales in the third quarter, a rise fuelled partly by the launch of new all-electric models.

Chief executive Ola Källenius said in a statement that the company remained “focused on enhancing customer experience while driving efficiency across our company”.

The federal government is considering enforcement action against oil and gas company Inpex after it admitted serious reporting errors that significantly underestimated hazardous emissions released from its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Darwin Harbour over many years.

The LNG plant is 3 kilometres from residential suburbs and 10km from Darwin city. It is required to report emissions to the National Pollutant Inventory.

Inpex has now released corrections for 2023–24 that more than double the previous estimates of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released into the air in Darwin, from 1,619 to 3,562 tonnes. The reason for the errors has not been disclosed.

The originally reported levels of very toxic compounds benzene and toluene were just 4–5 tonnes in 2023–24. However, corrected estimates were 136 and 112 times higher, respectively, with emissions exceeding 500 tonnes of both chemicals.

Currently there is no legal limit on the amount of VOCs that Inpex is allowed to emit. These new figures raise questions about the potential harms, given serious toxicity of benzene and toluene, the large amounts released into the atmosphere over several years, the closeness to population centres and the lack of detail in current sampling. As a cancer-causing chemical, there is no known safe threshold for benzene exposures.

When the news broke, NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro responded with public statements of faith in Inpex and the NT Environment Protection Authority. She said the incident illustrated the reliability of industry self-reporting. Inpex said the revised levels raised no health concerns for Darwin.

As a group of leading scientists aware of the complexities involved in measuring these chemicals and their health impacts, we strongly disagree. We view the potential health implications to be significant – they require an urgent, comprehensive and independent investigation.

Given the size of this correction, it’s imperative that corrections across all years are made public immediately. Corrected levels of benzene and toluene for 2021–22 could be particularly high, as Inpex has already reported emitting 11,000 tonnes of volatile organic compounds to the National Pollutant Inventory. That is nearly seven times more than the amount now reported for 2023-24.

Higher volatile organic compound emissions in 2024/25

In the wake of this scrutiny, Inpex has also released corrected data for 2024–25. Compared with 2023–24, Inpex further increased its emissions of total volatile organic compounds by 21%, with a 31-fold increase in xylene emissions and continuing high emissions of benzene and toluene.

This is despite revelations in 2024 that Inpex had emitted many times more volatile organic compounds than the 500 tonnes predicted in their draft Environmental Impact Statement to the NT government in 2008.

This led to detailed questioning of the chairs of Inpex and the NT Environment Protection Authority by senators David Pocock and Sarah Hanson-Young at the Senate Inquiry into federal support to the Middle Arm Industrial Precinct in Darwin in 2024.

In addition, documents provided by Inpex to the inquiry also revealed the facility’s two anti-pollution devices had been out of operation for extended periods of time since 2019. These devices, called acid-gas incinerators, destroy volatile chemicals such as benzene, toluene and hazardous sulphur-containing compounds before they are released. There were no legal consequences for these breakdowns and resulting elevated VOC emissions.

Alarmingly, the Middle Arm Inquiry Report ignored these discussions. Labor and Liberal senators gave full support for a third LNG facility to be built in Darwin with little mention of the extensive health concerns raised in submissions and additional papers.

Why are these emissions so concerning?

Many studies have linked exposure to the toxic family of chemicals known as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) to multiple health issues. Short exposures can cause symptoms such as headaches, respiratory symptoms and asthma attacks. Longer exposures can cause neurological damage, pre-term births and impaired liver, kidney, lung, reproductive and immune function.

The World Health Organization classifies benzene as a carcinogen, most strongly associated with leukaemia and other blood cancers.

While most research to date has examined risks associated with BTEX chemicals in workplaces and indoor settings, many recent studies have demonstrated that at least some of these risks extend to outdoor exposures.

Last month, an extensive multi-country study demonstrated a consistent link between benzene, toluene and xylene levels in outdoor air and the risk of death.

Besides these direct risks, BTEX chemicals react readily once in the atmosphere to form ground-level ozone, especially in warm, tropical environments such as Darwin.

We need clean air

Darwin residents are understandably concerned about the levels of highly toxic chemicals emitted by Inpex LNG so close to homes and urban areas of Darwin.

Days before these revelations, the NT EPA reported one of Inpex’s two LNG processing units had released 36,000 litres of hot oil across the plant and into stormwater drains.

These pollution issues follow the ABC investigation of a significant gas leak at the nearby Santos LNG facility, which had not been made public for nearly 20 years.

The federal Department of Climate Change, Energy and the Environment is now reviewing these incidents and considering enforcement action.

Inpex senior vice president Bill Townsend told the ABC workers had been told there was “no cause for health concern”, citing air quality monitoring – both on-site and in the Darwin region – which he said had “consistently” shown emissions were within government limits.

This week, hotly debated new national environment protection laws are expected to enter Parliament. Strong environmental laws aren’t just for wildlife – they are vital in protecting human health too. Improved evidence-based federal laws such as a Clean Air Act would go a long way to protecting Australia’s health and wellbeing.

^{Not for publication, distribution or release directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States of America, Australia, Canada or Japan, or in any other jurisdiction in which offers or sales would be prohibited by applicable law.}

^{This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in any jurisdiction, including the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. Neither this announcement nor anything contained herein shall form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any offer or commitment whatsoever in any jurisdiction.}

 

Following what was previously announced yesterday, Leonardo S.p.A. (“Leonardo”) has successfully completed the sale of approximately c. 2.6 million shares in Avio S.p.A. (“Avio”) equivalent to c. 9.4% of its share capital (the “Placement” or the “Transaction”). 

Following the Placement, Leonardo holds approximately 19.0% of the share capital of Avio. 

The Placement, carried out through an accelerated bookbuilding procedure, was priced at Euro 37.50 per share and will be settled by delivery of shares and payment of the consideration on 31st October 2025. 

In the context of the Transaction, Leonardo has agreed to a 90-day lock-up period on its remaining shares in Avio, in line with market practice. 

In connection with the Transaction, Intesa Sanpaolo, Jefferies and Morgan Stanley acted as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners.

———————————————————

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The distribution of this announcement and the offer and sale of the Placing Shares in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. The Placing Shares may not be offered to the public in any jurisdiction in circumstances which would require the preparation or registration of any prospectus or offering document relating to the Placing Shares in such jurisdiction. No action has been taken by Leonardo, the Joint Global Coordinators  and Joint Bookrunners or any of their respective affiliates that would permit an offering of the Placing Shares or possession or distribution of this announcement or any other offering or publicity material relating to such securities in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required.

This announcement is not for publication, distribution or release, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States of America (including its territories and dependencies, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Australia, Canada or Japan or any other jurisdiction where such an announcement would be unlawful. The distribution of this announcement may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons into whose possession this document or other information referred to herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

No prospectus or offering document has been or will be prepared in connection with the Placing. Any investment decision to buy securities in the Placing must be made solely on the basis of publicly available information. Such information is not the responsibility of and has not been independently verified by Leonardo, the Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners or any of their respective affiliates.

The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. Neither this document nor the information contained herein constitutes or forms part of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States. There will be no public offer of any securities in the United States. No action has been taken that would permit an offering of the securities or possession or distribution of this announcement in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.

In the EEA member states (each such EEA member state a “Relevant State”), this press release and the information contained herein is intended only for and directed only to “qualified investors” as defined in Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, and repealing Directive 2003/71/EC (together with any related implementing and delegated regulations, the “Prospectus Regulation”). The securities mentioned in this press release are not intended to be offered to the public in any Relevant State and are only available to qualified investors. Persons in any Relevant State who are not qualified investors should not take any actions based on this press release, nor rely on it. 

In the United Kingdom, this announcement and any other materials in relation to the securities described herein are only being distributed to, and are only directed at, and any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, “qualified investors” (within the meaning of assimilated Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of the law of the United Kingdom by virtue of the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018) who (i) have professional experience in matters relating to investments which fall within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended, the “Order”), (ii) are persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order, (iii) are outside the United Kingdom, or (iv) are persons to whom an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) in connection with the issue or sale of any securities may otherwise lawfully be communicated or caused to be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). This announcement is directed only at relevant persons and must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this announcement relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons.

Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., Jefferies GmbH and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc are acting for Leonardo only in connection with the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than Leonardo for providing the protections offered to the respective clients of the Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners, nor for providing advice in relation to the Placing or any matters referred to in this announcement.

In London’s gleaming Docklands, developers stare at rolling lines of code as their models devour new data sets. Forty miles northwest in Milton Keynes, a procurement team watches a first-draft bid spring to life in seconds. And somewhere in the Midlands, a customer-experience manager gets an instant alert that prevents a six-figure product recall.

All of these moments share a common thread: Microsoft’s GenAI Accelerator.

A launch-pad built for AI

When Microsoft announced the GenAI Accelerator in November 2024, it set out to fix a specific problem: Britain is teeming with artificial-intelligence talent, but founders struggle to access the compute power, sales channels, and technical expertise needed to grow. By teaming with NVIDIA and GitHub, Microsoft promised to remove road-blocks and help “create the tech powerhouses of tomorrow”.

Across a six-week programme the cohort received free Azure credits, membership of NVIDIA’s Inception programme, and support from Microsoft’s AI ‘Black Belt’ engineers. The result, participants say, is a step-change in speed.

Two of the companies already turning that support into visible impact are SentiSum, an AI-native customer feedback platform, and AutogenAI, the bid-writing engine that’s changing how billions of pounds of contracts are won.

“The GenAI Accelerator provided invaluable access to technical advisors, partner managers, and experts at Microsoft,” says Sharad Khandelwal, cofounder and CEO of SentiSum.

“We gained visibility in critical AI and SaaS [Software as a Service] communities, and it gave us the credibility to partner with enterprise customers who value Microsoft’s stamp of quality.”

SentiSum: Feedback into insight

Legacy ‘Voice of the Customer’ (VoC) feedback tools rely on old-fashioned surveys and dashboards all too often siloed from each other. SentiSum’s Kyo assistant analyses every chat, email, call and review in real time, telling brands not just what went wrong, but why.

“We’ve built it specifically for the voice of the customer, fine-tuned on millions of real customer experience interactions,” explains Khandelwal. “This gives it a deep understanding of customer language, intent, and context off-the-shelf models can’t match.”

That precision recently saved a global food brand from disaster.

“Our AI flagged a packaging error within hours of the first complaints, helping the team avoid a £250,000 recall,” he says.

Other wins include a 30% drop in escalations – issues serious enough to be bumped up to managers – for a transport client, and six months of manual analysis replaced by automated insights at a national retailer. The common theme, Khandelwal argues, is trust.

“Customers care less about flashy AI and more about answers they genuinely believe and rely on under pressure,” he says. “The most effective AI feels invisible to the user.”

With fresh Azure cloud capacity to power these AI options, along with new Marketplace exposure, SentiSum is now scaling Kyo as a “Customer Second Brain” across EMEA and the US, while adding executive-ready reporting and deeper workflow integrations.

“Our ambition is to become the intelligence layer that powers how businesses understand and act on the voice of the customer,” Khandelwal says.

AutogenAI: Winning at warp speed

Procurement specialists, who vet purchasing deals and pricing, live in a world of red lines and tight deadlines. AutogenAI exists to flip that stress on its head.

“We help organisations win more work by transforming how they write bids, proposals and grant applications,” explains Sean Williams, founder and CEO of AutogenAI.

Rather than rely on a single model, AutogenAI combines multiple Large Language Models (LLMs) to pick and choose from, so that “every output reflects a client’s tone, terminology, and best practice,” Williams says.

The impact has been seismic.

Public-services giant Serco reports an 85% uplift in efficiency and a 5% rise in global revenue after integrating AutogenAI.

“The first of our Impact Pilots has already seen us use its functionality more than 6,000 times, generating significant knowledge content,” says Serco CEO Mark Irwin.

And inside AutogenAI, the team is ‘dogfooding’ the product with great success. This means using and testing a brand’s services in its own workflows.

“Our sales teams use AutogenAI to personalise outreach at scale, while our customer success team drafts tailored documentation and proposal templates faster than ever. Employees consistently say it reduces time spent on repetitive tasks, improves quality, and gives them space to focus on strategic, high-impact work,” Williams notes.

The GenAI Accelerator, Williams stresses, was a key catalyst. It has “provided us with valuable tools and resources to accelerate the delivery of our Azure platform integration, as well as direct access to key Microsoft stakeholders.”

Both founders highlight three features that set the GenAI programme apart: computing power at scale; embedded experts; and a ready-made sales channel. With a Marketplace listing, Microsoft field-seller briefings, and a venture-capitalist-packed Demo Day, the programme puts start-ups in front of the customers and capital they need.

Looking ahead

SentiSum’s ambition is to become the intelligence layer that powers how businesses understand and act on the voice of the customer. AutogenAI is adding multilingual engines and deeper compliance checks so clients can compete across regions and sectors.

Their advice to other start-ups is refreshingly pragmatic.

“Build a product that solves a real-world problem that you understand. Ship the product as soon as possible. Iterate quickly,” says Williams.

Khandelwal offers a similar mantra: “Stay opinionated. Keep it simple. The companies that win are the ones that stay close to their customers and solve problems that matter.”

Less than a year after launch, the GenAI Accelerator is proving that when founders are armed with world-class tools and mentorship, they are empowered to convert bold ideas into solutions that make life better for their customers.

With its dramatic, rugged mountain skyline, winding roads and ever-changing weather, the Isle of Skye has long appealed to lovers of the wild. Over the last decade, however, the largest island in the Inner Hebrides has been drawing visitors for other reasons – its dynamic food and drink scene. Leading the way are young Sgitheanach (people from Skye) with a global outlook but a commitment to local, sustainable ingredients. It’s also the result of an engaged community keen to create good, year-round jobs that keep young people on the island.

Calum Montgomery is Skye born and bred, and he’s passionate about showcasing the island’s larder on his menus at Edinbane Lodge. “If someone is coming to Skye I want them to appreciate the landscape, but also the quality of our produce,” he says. “Our mussels, lobster, scallops and crab are second to none.” Montgomery is mindful of the past: “It means everything to me to use the same produce as my ancestors. My grandpa was a lobster fisherman and we’re enjoying shellfish from the same stretch of water, with the same respect for ingredients.”

Montgomery’s A Taste of Skye menu lists the distances his produce has travelled. I eat fat scallops hand-dived in Loch Greshornish (zero miles), and creel-caught lobster from Portree (12 miles) with vegetables, foraged herbs and edible flowers from the kitchen garden and seashore (zero miles). That connection to produce and producers is key. “Last week I took a young chef out with a scallop diver so he could learn what they do. We shucked scallops straight from the water and ate them raw with a squeeze of lemon. ‘That’s the best scallop I’ve ever eaten,’ he said. That’s what we want to bring to the restaurant.”

Driving south, in the shadow of the mighty Cuillin mountains, I meet another culinary ambassador for Skye, Clare Coghill, at Café Cùil. This year Coghill represented Scotland at Tartan Week in New York, serving lobster rolls with whisky butter, and haggis quesadillas from a Manhattan food truck. She initially launched Café Cùil in Hackney, London. Returning home to Skye during the pandemic, a series of pop-ups proved there was a market here too.

Over a machair matcha (topped with dried machair flowers) and delicious blood orange-cured trout, Coghill tells me: “I’m really proud I opened in London, but I couldn’t do what I can do here. Getting fresh ingredients was a huge mission, but here the scallops come straight from the sea to my door. My creel fisherman only speaks to me in Gaelic.” Her love of Skye’s produce, people and landscape is clear across her colourful, creative dishes, all imbued with local flavours, with a twist of Gaelic. “My connection to Gaelic culture and language is so important,” she says. Visitors can use little lesson cards on the tables to learn a few words while they eat.

Skye’s more longstanding food destinations are not resting on their laurels. Kinloch Lodge, a boutique hotel run by Isabella Macdonald in her family’s ancestral home, has long been a foodie destination. Isabella’s mother, Claire, Lady Macdonald OBE, writes well-loved books on Scottish cookery.

The kitchen continues to innovate, with a dynamic young team led by head chef David Cameron. When they’re not in the kitchen the chefs grow herbs and spices in the hotel greenhouse, and forage for wild greens in the gardens and sea herbs like sea aster and scurvygrass from the shoreline of Loch na Dal. In autumn they follow deer trails to find mushrooms in the woods.

I feast on Skye scallops, pak choi and peanuts in a delicious dashi; Shetland cod with Scottish asparagus, and house-smoked lobster. Kinloch’s ghillie, Mitchell Partridge, takes guests out for activities including foraging and fishing “There’s a huge appetite for experiences from our guests,” says Macdonald. “People want to come and really get to know the island and the landscape.”

The whisky industry is also helping to keep young people on Skye, in jobs that last beyond the peak tourism months. Dougie Stewart, operations manager at Torabhaig distillery, tells me: “The fish farm was a big employer in the past, but now most of the jobs are automated. House prices have gone up so much it’s harder for young people to stay. The whisky industry has become a really important employer.”

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“Distillers wanted, no experience necessary” was the notice that a then 21-year-old Iona Fraser spotted in her local paper, landing her a job at Torabhaig. “I just took a punt,” she says, “I never thought I’d get a production job, but it was a dream of mine.” Fraser had an interest in whisky, but no relevant qualifications. “To be able to train onsite and learn online was amazing.” Today she is a senior distiller, helping to train new distillers, and has recently created her own whisky using a chocolate malt, which is maturing in barrels when I visit. In other distilleries, that’s an honour usually reserved for retiring distillers. The visitor centre and cafe employ many people from around the Sleat peninsula. “We meld into the community because we brought the community here,” says tour guide manager Anne O’lone.

To pick up supplies for my journey home I stop by Birch, a speciality coffee roaster and bakery serving gleaming pastries and colourful brunch dishes. It’s owned by Niall Munro, who also founded the hugely successful Skye Live music festival. His brother Calum Munro is chef-owner at fine-dining restaurant Scorrybreac in Portree, somewhere I’m desperate to try, but I’ve sadly run out of mealtimes. More local success stories, and incredible food.

“We’re all deeply rooted in Skye,” says Calum Montgomery. “A lot of us left and worked elsewhere. We’d be seeing the produce we knew arrive miles from where it was landed, and it’s just not as good as what we grew up eating. I’m so proud of the whole place now.”

Journeying across Skye, I’m constantly asked where I’ve been and where I’m eating next. It’s a real testament to this food community that everyone is keen to champion other island businesses. It’s collaborative, not competitive, and the quality? Skye-high.

Accommodation was provided by Perle Hotels. Luxury pods at Bracken Hide in Portree from £145 B&B, double rooms at the Marmalade Hotel from £125 B&B

Amsterdam,

ING announced today that Ida Lerner will be appointed as chief financial officer (CFO) of ING. Until recently, Ida served as CFO at Norwegian bank DNB. She will succeed Tanate Phutrakul, who will step down from his position at ING’s annual general meeting in April 2026 as announced in July 2025.


Effective 1 April 2026, Ida will be appointed as member of the Management Board Banking. The Supervisory Board will propose to shareholders to appoint her as member of the Executive Board and as CFO of ING Group at the Annual General Meeting in April 2026.


Ida (Swedish/Norwegian) has been DNB’s CFO since 2021. She joined the bank in 2007. Before taking the position as CFO, she served as head of DNB for the Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa region based in London, chief of Customer Analysis in Northern Europe, Middle East & Africa and group executive vice president for Risk Management. Prior to joining DNB, she worked in various roles at HSBC and Nordea. Ida holds a Bachelor in Social Sciences, with an emphasis on economics from the University of Stockholm.

Steven van Rijswijk, CEO of ING, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Ida to ING’s executive team. Her experience as CFO at a large listed bank will be instrumental as we continue to execute our strategy and strengthen our position as a digital and sustainable bank. Ida’s deep knowledge of European banking will be a great addition to ING, and I look forward to working together to accelerate our strategic ambitions.”

Ida Lerner said: “I’m honoured to be joining ING at a time of growth, and with a clear ambition to become the best European bank. ING’s commitment to innovation, sustainability and customer empowerment aligns strongly with my values. Together with the Management Board Banking and our global teams, I’m excited to help steer ING’s financial strategy and support its purpose of empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business.”

The appointment of Ida has been approved by the European Central Bank.

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ING PROFILE

ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank. The purpose of ING Bank is: empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank’s more than 60,000 employees offer retail and wholesale banking services to customers in over 100 countries.

ING Group shares are listed on the exchanges of Amsterdam (INGA NA, INGA.AS), Brussels and on the New York Stock Exchange (ADRs: ING US, ING.N).

ING aims to put sustainability at the heart of what we do. Our policies and actions are assessed by independent research and ratings providers, which give updates on them annually. ING’s ESG rating by MSCI was reconfirmed by MSCI as ‘AA’ in August 2024 for the fifth year. As of December 2023, in Sustainalytics’ view, ING’s management of ESG material risk is ‘Strong’. Our current ESG Risk Rating, is 17.2 (Low Risk). ING Group shares are also included in major sustainability and ESG index products of leading providers. Here are some examples: Euronext, STOXX, Morningstar and FTSE Russell. Society is transitioning to a low-carbon economy. So are our clients, and so is ING. We finance a lot of sustainable activities, but we still finance more that’s not. Follow our progress on ing.com/climate.

Important legal information

Elements of this press release contain or may contain information about ING Groep N.V. and/ or ING Bank N.V. within the meaning of Article 7(1) to (4) of EU Regulation No 596/2014 (‘Market Abuse Regulation’).

ING Group’s annual accounts are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (‘IFRS- EU’). In preparing the financial information in this document, except as described otherwise, the same accounting principles are applied as in the 2024 ING Group consolidated annual accounts. All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible in the tables due to rounding.

Certain of the statements contained herein are not historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to a number of factors, including, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic conditions and customer behaviour, in particular economic conditions in ING’s core markets, including changes affecting currency exchange rates and the regional and global economic impact of the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and related international response measures (2) changes affecting interest rate levels (3) any default of a major market participant and related market disruption (4) changes in performance of financial markets, including in Europe and developing markets (5) fiscal uncertainty in Europe and the United States (6) discontinuation of or changes in ‘benchmark’ indices (7) inflation and deflation in our principal markets (8) changes in conditions in the credit and capital markets generally, including changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness (9) failures of banks falling under the scope of state compensation schemes (10) non- compliance with or changes in laws and regulations, including those concerning financial services, financial economic crimes and tax laws, and the interpretation and application thereof (11) geopolitical risks, political instabilities and policies and actions of governmental and regulatory authorities, including in connection with the invasion of Russia into Ukraine and the related international response measures (12) legal and regulatory risks in certain countries with less developed legal and regulatory frameworks (13) prudential supervision and regulations, including in relation to stress tests and regulatory restrictions on dividends and distributions (also among members of the group) (14) ING’s ability to meet minimum capital and other prudential regulatory requirements (15) changes in regulation of US commodities and derivatives businesses of ING and its customers (16) application of bank recovery and resolution regimes, including write down and conversion powers in relation to our securities (17) outcome of current and future litigation, enforcement proceedings, investigations or other regulatory actions, including claims by customers or stakeholders who feel misled or treated unfairly, and other conduct issues (18) changes in tax laws and regulations and risks of non-compliance or investigation in connection with tax laws, including FATCA (19) operational and IT risks, such as system disruptions or failures, breaches of security, cyber-attacks, human error, changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including in respect of third parties with which we do business and including any risks as a result of incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise flawed outputs from the algorithms and data sets utilized in artificial intelligence (20) risks and challenges related to cybercrime including the effects of cyberattacks and changes in legislation and regulation related to cybersecurity and data privacy, including such risks and challenges as a consequence of the use of emerging technologies, such as advanced forms of artificial intelligence and quantum computing (21) changes in general competitive factors, including ability to increase or maintain market share (22) inability to protect our intellectual property and infringement claims by third parties (23) inability of counterparties to meet financial obligations or ability to enforce rights against such counterparties (24) changes in credit ratings (25) business, operational, regulatory, reputation, transition and other risks and challenges in connection with climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion and other ESG-related matters, including data gathering and reporting and also including managing the conflicting laws and requirements of governments, regulators and authorities with respect to these topics (26) inability to attract and retain key personnel (27) future liabilities under defined benefit retirement plans (28) failure to manage business risks, including in connection with use of models, use of derivatives, or maintaining appropriate policies and guidelines (29) changes in capital and credit markets, including interbank funding, as well as customer deposits, which provide the liquidity and capital required to fund our operations, and (30) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the most recent annual report of ING Groep N.V. (including the Risk Factors contained therein) and ING’s more recent disclosures, including press releases, which are available on www.ING.com.

This document may contain ESG-related material that has been prepared by ING on the basis of publicly available information, internally developed data and other third-party sources believed to be reliable. ING has not sought to independently verify information obtained from public and third-party sources and makes no representations or warranties as to accuracy, completeness, reasonableness or reliability of such information.
Materiality, as used in the context of ESG, is distinct from, and should not be confused with, such term as defined in the Market Abuse Regulation or as defined for Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) reporting purposes. Any issues identified as material for purposes of ESG in this document are therefore not necessarily material as defined in the Market Abuse Regulation or for SEC reporting purposes. In addition, there is currently no single, globally recognized set of accepted definitions in assessing whether activities are “green” or “sustainable.” Without limiting any of the statements contained herein, we make no representation or warranty as to whether any of our securities constitutes a green or sustainable security or conforms to present or future investor expectations or objectives for green or sustainable investing. For information on characteristics of a security, use of proceeds, a description of applicable project(s) and/or any other relevant information, please reference the offering documents for such security.

This document may contain inactive textual addresses to internet websites operated by us and third parties. Reference to such websites is made for information purposes only, and information found at such websites is not incorporated by reference into this document. ING does not make any representation or warranty with respect to the accuracy or completeness of, or take any responsibility for, any information found at any websites operated by third parties. ING specifically disclaims any liability with respect to any information found at websites operated by third parties. ING cannot guarantee that websites operated by third parties remain available following the publication of this document, or that any information found at such websites will not change following the filing of this document. Many of those factors are beyond ING’s control.

Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of ING speak only as of the date they are made, and ING assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or for any other reason.

This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction.