Net profit has risen sharply at ABN AMRO's private banking arm.

The private banking arm of Netherlands-headquartered ABN AMRO, which has a presence in regions including Asia-Pacific, announced today that its net profit for last year stood at €136 million ($186.5 million), surging by €85 million from a year before, buoyed by lower impairments and higher income.

Operating income was €1.183 billion last year, a rise of 6 per cent from a year before, it said in a statement.

Assets under management increased by €5.2 billion to €168.3 billion, driven by market performance. Net new assets in the Netherlands were more than offset by a decrease in Jersey, it said.

For the overall state-owned ABN AMRO group, profit after tax stood at €1.16 billion last year, a rise of just 1 per cent from a year before; pre-tax operating profit rose 10 per cent. A bank tax imposed by the Dutch government also hit results.

The past 12 months have been difficult for the group, facing headwinds from a sluggish domestic Dutch economy as well as specific, one-off cost items relating to the bank’s Madoff and former Greek files, explained chairman Gerrit Zalm. (In the case of convicted and jailed Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernard Madoff, ABN AMRO became embroiled because Fortis Bank Netherlands (Holding) NV – which had bought a share of ABN AMRO in 2008 – lost money in connection with Madoff.)

“We ended 2013 with a loss-making quarter as significant impairment charges were taken and the bank tax was paid. We are predominantly exposed to the Dutch economy, where domestic spending has declined since 2008. In particular, SMEs with a domestic focus have felt the effects of lower domestic spending and the number of businesses in our portfolio that are suffering from financial difficulties was at elevated levels,” he said.

Zalm continued: “In terms of the individual business segments, retail banking performed well and private banking performed as expected. Commercial banking posted a small loss over 2013 due to high loan impairments, although this business has made good progress on improving efficiency over the past two years.”