ING Group, the Dutch financial services provider, posted stronger first-half results than many of its peer group, but its banking business did not contribute much to the good news.

ING Group's profits rose 16%, to €2.4bn ($2.2bn), in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year. Excluding one-off items, profits were still up by 10%. However, the rise in overall banking profits was just 1%, to €940m, compared with the 28% rise in insurance profits, which totalled €1.46bn.