Rabobank posts profit decline in 2014

Rabobank realized a net profit of 1.842 billion euros (about 2.063 billion U.S. dollars) in the full year 2014, which is lower than the net profit of 2013, the Dutch bank announced on Thursday.

In 2013 the net profit was 2.007 billion euros, which is 8 percent higher than in the following year.

Without getting into details the bank stated that the underlying result rose strongly in 2014 compared to 2013, when there was a net positive effect on the result from non-recurring items.

"Given the still difficult economic conditions and the developments in recent years, our financial results for 2014 are not unsatisfactory," Wiebe Draijer, Chairman of the Executive Board of Rabobank, told in a press release.

"For the future, however, they are still not sufficient. We have improved our underlying result. In 2014 Rabobank again ranked among the world's most sound and stable banks. We passed the stress test by the ECB with good results. But we can do better," said Draijer.

The results were influenced by the one-off levy to cover the nationalization of local rival SNS Reaal. All three major Dutch banks, Rabobank, ABN Amro and ING, had to deal with that.

Last Friday ABN Amro announced its full year 2014 results with an underlying net profit of 1.551 billion euros over the full year 2014, double the amount of 2013 (752 million euros).

Net profit for the full year 2014 was 1.134 billion euros (1.160 billion euros in 2013), including 417 million of negative one-off special items related to the SNS Reaal levy and pension settlement charge.

On Feb. 11 ING Bank announced a decline of the net result in the full year 2014 compared to 2013.

The full year net result in 2014 was 2.606 billion euros, compared to 3.031 billion in 2013, a decline of 14 percent. The 2014 underlying net profit was 3.424 billion, up 8.5 percent from full year 2013. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit