First quarter 2002 performance
(compared to the fourth quarter of 2001)
* Revenues remain resilient (+0.4%)
* Operating expenses continue to trend down (-1.5%)
* Operating result up 5.4%
* Provisioning falls (-34.8%) to EUR 390 mln
* Net profit, excl. extraordinary results, up 12.9%
* Efficiency ratio improves to 71.6%
* BIS tier 1 ratio further improves to 7.13%
ChairmanÂ's statement
'Although the economic conditions have improved during the first few months of the year, the overall state of the economy remains sluggish and unpredictable. Under these circumstances, some of our businesses have performed well, notably our US mortgage activities. Our focus on cost management has enabled us to reduce our operating expenses and improve the efficiency ratio. As such, this performance has allowed us to deliver an operating performance in line with our outlook. However, given the uncertain market conditions we remain cautious about the remainder of the year.'
(source: ABN AMRO)
