Dutch bank ABN Amro sees profits grow in fourth quarter

Dutch bank ABN Amro says its underlying net profit, which strips out exceptional items, rose 23 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 333 million euros ($351 million).

The bank, which has been restructured and re-privatized following its bailout by the Dutch government in 2008 during the global financial crisis, said Wednesday that operating income for the fourth quarter rose 7 percent to 2.2 billion euros ($2.3 billion).

CEO Kees van Dijkhuizen says that in the last quarter the bank "achieved loan growth in all of our major loan books: we were the number one provider of new mortgages in the Netherlands for the second consecutive year."