The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Kirishanthan Vijayarajah - HSBC, Research Division - Analyst
: A couple of questions from my side. So in terms of the various market exits you've been doing France, Czech Republic, Austria. I'm just wondering,
is that rationalization program kind of now done? Or is there still some other -- some of your weaker smaller geographies still under review. So just
an update there.
And then on the outlook to volume growth specifically in the wholesale bank, looking out in the second half, you sounded quite optimistic. But
could you just throw out a bit more color on where you see that growth coming from? How much of it coming from outside Europe? Which sectors
is your financing pipeline looking strong? And I guess it's kind of early days, but as government guaranteed lending mechanisms stayed away in
some of your geographies, I wonder if there's scope for some margin expansion in the wholesale build or -- is that kind of too early to see those
kind of trends?
Question: Raul Sinha - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: I'm sorry to bring you back to the risk of under shooting on fees, I'm afraid, as the first question. I just wanted to ask about the investment product
fees in terms of sustainability. Just given it's up 20% year-over-year. If I look at the first half of 2019, pre-pandemic, it's up 60% over that period.
And obviously, there's a with inflow of AUM, and there's also really this market volatility environment. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on
how sustainable you think the investment product fees are going forward? And then the second question, is actually just on capital distribution.
Obviously, there's some concern about the remaining EUR 1.7 billion. In terms of your language, you say, post September, but clearly, that could
mean early next year as well. I can assume that the lack of precision on timing is basically due to the fact that you're waiting for the ECB approval
process of buybacks, which is slightly longer rather than any kind of intention on your part to delay this payout? I hope is that -- is my understanding
correct on this?
Question: Raul Sinha - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: That's very clear. On the fees part, can I just request perhaps some additional disclosure, perhaps some additional slides because there's a lot going
on through all your initiatives in various different markets.
Question: Raul Sinha - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: Sorry, Mark.
Question: Andrew Lowe - Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, Research Division - Analyst
: Can I ask a quick question on Turkey. Firstly, you haven't had your Turkish exposure slide for the last couple of quarters. So an update on those
numbers would be pretty helpful.
And then also, Steven, I remember you saying when you are the CRO a number of years ago, that your Turkish business was important as it supported
lending for German and Italian wholesale clients. Is this still the case?
Question: Omar Fall - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division - Analyst
: A couple of questions for me. So firstly, just on coming back to NII. I guess the expectation, at least in the market is that it will be flat this year. But
if I look at volume growth, as you say, it's maybe not coming through as fast as you initially expected. And it looks like there's maybe around EUR
60 million of deposit margin pressure every quarter still. And if I look at your core geographies front book margins are falling on the asset side and
much of -- some of the support for NII this quarter came from FM, which is volatile. So do you think these levers including negative rate charging
that you have are enough for the second half to really keep NII stable. So just some outlook there would be great.
And then secondly, just could you just talk specifically about Retail Germany, please? Even ex the Greensill impacted it's 1 of the weakest quarters
in several years for what's been 1 of the best divisions, well, in the entire European retail banking space, really. So could you give us some more
color there, please? Is just some of the costs associated with Austria but then fees are down quite a bit as is NII as well?
And then, sorry, a cheeky final question. But could you give us the amounts of NII revenue and/or profit associated to Retail Austria, France and
Czech Republic, just for our modeling, please?
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