ABN Amro has announced it will shortly be launching Prospery, a digital wealth manager that offers the bank's German clients wealth and investment management - at a fixed flat rate - through a digital platform combined with a personal financial expert. Prospery is the first digital player in Europe to deliver such a comprehensive digital wealth management proposition, according to the Dutch bank. 'Prospery, is a digital private banking proposition with personal coaching as an option. The kick-off will take place in Germany,' said Kees van Dijkhuizen (pictured), CEO, ABN Amro Group, during the presentation of the bank's third quarter 2017 results on November 8, 2017.

According to Van Dijkhuizen, ABN Amro has broadened its strategic commitment to sustainable banking. 'Currently, our retail and private banking clients have around €8bn invested in sustainable client assets and 30% of our clients are already investing sustainably,' said Van Dijkhuizen.

'We are firmly committed to taking this a step further and aim to double the volume of sustainable client assets in the next three years to €16bn. As from 2018, sustainable investments will be the norm for new private and retail banking clients in the Netherlands,' said Van Dijkhuizen. ABN Amro will also be contacting existing clients to discuss a - purely voluntary - switchover from traditional to sustainable investment, according to Van Dijkhuizen. 'We have developed a strong euro green bond franchise to help finance the sustainability initiatives of our clients and have been involved in eight green bond transactions across regions and sectors this year, raising over €4.5bn.'

ABN Amro reported a net profit of €673m in the third quarter of 2017, up 11% compared to the same period last year. Operating income, at €2.1bn, showed a small decline year-on-year, due mainly to the divested private banking activities in Asia, lower markets and clearing fees, private equity results and accounting effects, according to the bank.

Total liabilities increased by €2.6bn, totalling €387bn at September 30, 2017. The increase was mainly related to higher securities financing volumes and issued debt securities, partly offset by lower derivatives liabilities. Issued debt securities went up by €2.3bn to €77.7bn in the third quarter, reflecting an increase in commercial paper and certificates which is within the targeted bandwidth for short-term funding, according to the bank. Issued debt included €31.6bn worth of medium-term notes, down from €32.4bn the previous quarter and also down from €32.8bn at the end of December last year.

Reported profit for the first nine-months of 2017 increased by €777m compared to the same period in 2016, which, besides movements in the underlying profit, was also impacted by a provision for small and medium-size (SME) clients with derivatives-related issues of €271m, according to the bank.

ABN Amro was re-established in 2009 in its current form, following the acquisition and break-up of the original ABN by a banking consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which took on the bank's structured products book. In 2014, following a review of its markets division, which was selling structured products to clients worldwide, the bank decided it would stop selling its own structured products.

There are 1,200 structured products from ABN Amro (excluding leverage and flow) listed on the SRP database. Of these, 10 products are currently still live, including offerings from Banque Neuflize-OBC and ABN Amro Private Banking in France and MeesPierson in the Netherlands.

Click the link to view the full third quarter 2017 results for ABN Amro Group.

Related stories:
The Netherlands Market Review - August 2017

ABN Amro redeems €400m in bonds and notes in the first six months of 2017

ABN Amro reports issued debt of €76.5bn at the end of H1 2016