KBC Group: First-quarter result of 546 million euros

‘We recorded a net profit of 546 million euros in the first quarter of 2025. Compared to the result of the previous quarter, our total income benefited from several factors, including increased insurance revenues, trading and fair value income and net other income, while net interest income and net fee and commission income were slightly down as a result of seasonality and some positive year-end effects in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Our loan portfolio continued to expand, increasing by 2% quarter-on-quarter and by 7% year-on-year. Customer deposits – excluding volatile, low-margin short-term deposits at KBC Bank’s foreign branches – were stable quarter-on-quarter (with a shift from term deposits to savings accounts) and up 7% year-on-year.

Operating expenses were up, since the bulk of the bank and insurance taxes for the full year are recorded – as usual – in the first quarter. Disregarding bank and insurance taxes, operating expenses fell by 8% quarter-on-quarter. Insurance service expenses also fell, as did loan loss impairment charges, resulting in a very favourable credit cost ratio of just 8 basis points for the quarter under review (16 basis points excluding the changes in the reserve for geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties).

Our solvency position remained strong, with an unfloored fully loaded common equity ratio under Basel IV of 14.5% at the end of March 2025. Our liquidity position remained very solid too, as illustrated by an LCR of 157% and NSFR of 140%.

On 8 May 2025, we paid a final dividend of 3.15 euros per share, bringing the total dividend for full-year 2024 to 4.85 euros per share. We also updated our dividend and capital deployment policy. As from 2025, we will pay a dividend of between 50% and 65% of our consolidated result, 1 euro of which will be paid in November as an interim dividend. We aim to remain amongst the better capitalised financial institutions in Europe. Each year, when announcing the full-year results, our Board will take a decision – at its discretion - on capital deployment. The focus will predominantly be on further organic growth alongside mergers and acquisitions. We see a 13% unfloored fully loaded common equity ratio as the minimum.

Furthermore, KBC reached an agreement to acquire 98.45% of 365.bank in Slovakia based on a total value for 365.bank of 761 million euros. This investment will allow us to further strengthen our position in the Slovak market while closing the gap with the top three players in the banking sector. 365.bank is a retail-focused bank with subsidiaries in asset management and consumer finance and is very complementary to the business of KBC’s existing Slovak subsidiary ČSOB, leading to significant cost, revenue (cross-selling) and funding synergies. KBC will particularly strengthen its reach in retail banking as well as benefit from access to the unique client base and distribution network of 365.bank and its exclusive partnership with Slovak Post. Closure of the deal is subject to regulatory approval and will reduce our unfloored fully loaded common equity ratio by approximately 50 basis points upon closing, which is expected by the end of this year.

Recent weeks have been characterised by unprecedented macro-economic (trade) uncertainty as a result of the US policy on trade tariffs and its repercussions on the financial markets. Nevertheless, we confirm our short-term and long-term financial guidance. Last but not least, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude towards our customers, employees, shareholders and all other stakeholders for their continued trust in our group.

JohanThijs

Chief Executive Office

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