KBC Group: Third-quarter result of 868 million euros

KBC Group – overview (consolidated, IFRS)	3Q2024	2Q2024	3Q2023	9M2024	9M2023
Net result (in millions of EUR)	868	925	877	2 300	2 725
Basic earnings per share (in EUR)	2.14	2.25	2.07	5.58	6.44
Breakdown of the net result by business unit (in millions of EUR)
Belgium	598	519	517	1 359	1 392
Czech Republic	179	244	200	620	661
International Markets	205	224	200	576	498
Group Centre	-114	-61	-41	-255	174
Parent shareholders’ equity per share (in EUR, end of period)	54.1	53.2	52.2	54.1	52.2

We recorded a net profit of 868 million euros in the third quarter of 2024. Compared to the result for the previous quarter, our total income benefited from several factors, including higher net interest income (despite significantly lower income on inflation-linked bonds), increased insurance revenues supported by commercial actions, and higher net fee and commission income driven by excellent business performance. These items were offset by a decrease in trading & fair value income and the drop in dividend income following its seasonal peak in the second quarter.

Our loan portfolio continued to expand, increasing by 1% quarter-on-quarter and by 5% year-on-year. Customer deposits – excluding volatile, low-margin short-term deposits at KBC Bank’s foreign branches – were up 3% quarter-on-quarter and 5% year-on-year. As regards Belgium, deposits grew by as much as 5% quarter-on-quarter and 8% year-on-year, owing to the successful recuperation of customer funds following the maturity of the Belgian state note issued a year earlier. In fact, thanks to our proactive, multi-phased and multi-product customer offering, the total inflow of core customer money after the state note matured amounted to 6.5 billion euros, outpacing last year’s 5.7-billion-euro outflow to the state note by 0.8 billion euros.

Operational expenses were up in the quarter under review but remained perfectly within our full-year 2024 guidance. Insurance service expenses were higher, partly as a result of the storms and floods in Central Europe, especially Storm Boris. To date, we are helping some 10 000 customers alleviate the impact of the floods caused by this storm. Next to that, we established a donation fund. Loan loss impairment charges, excluding the reserve for geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties, were up on the level recorded in the previous quarter, leading to a credit cost ratio of 16 basis points for the first nine months of 2024, substantially below the guidance. Including the reserve for geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties, the credit cost ratio stood at 10 basis points for the first nine months of 2024. In the quarter under review, we also booked a one-off 79-million-euros gain, under ‘share in results of associated companies & joint ventures’.

Our solvency position remained strong, with a fully loaded common equity ratio of 15.2% at the end of September 2024. Our liquidity position remained very solid too, as illustrated by an LCR of 159% and NSFR of 142%. As already announced earlier, we will – in line with our general dividend policy – pay an interim dividend of 1 euro per share on 14 November 2024 as an advance on the total dividend for financial year 2024.

The share of bank and insurance products sold digitally has continued to rise: based on a selection of core products, around 55% of our banking and 29% of our insurance products were sold through a digital channel, up from 51% and 26% a year ago. And Kate, our personal digital assistant, is making good progress too: to date, over 5 million customers have already used Kate, an increase of no less than 37% on the year-earlier figure, while the proportion of cases resolved fully autonomously by Kate continues to improve and now stands at 67% in Belgium and 69% in the Czech Republic. I’m also delighted to add that our successful digitalisation and innovation journey regularly receives recognition from external parties. I am particularly proud that, just a few weeks ago, the independent international research agency Sia Partners honoured us by naming KBC Mobile the best mobile banking app in the world.

Our ultimate aim is to be the reference bank-insurer in all our core markets. This ambition is fuelled by our customer-centric business model and, most importantly, by the trust our customers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders place in us. We appreciate and are deeply grateful for this continued trust.

Johan Thijs
Chief Executive Officer

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