Barclays, the UK’s second-largest bank by assets, agreed to buy ING's money-losing British online bank, adding 1.5 million customers.
Barclays will take over £10.9 billion in deposits and £5.6 billion of mortgage loans, the London-based lender said in a statement today.
Some 750 employees will transfer to Barclays from the Dutch bank as part of the deal, which will add to return on equity immediately, Barclays said. No purchase price was disclosed.
The acquisition is the first since Anthony Jenkins, the former head of Barclays' consumer bank, replaced Robert Diamond as chief executive officer in August.
Mr Diamond resigned the previous month after regulators fined the bank £290 million for manipulating the London interbank offered rate.
ING has been selling assets as it seeks to repay aid received from the Netherlands during the financial crisis. It said it was reviewing options for its UK online bank in August.
The Amsterdam-based bank and insurer said the sale will lead to a transaction loss of about €320 million after tax, while freeing up €330 million in capital.
ING said the sale won't have an impact on its core Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of a lender's financial strength. Barclays said the impact on its Core Tier 1 is not material.
The ING business will be folded into Barclays's retail and business banking division. The unit reported an underlying pre-tax loss of €89 million in 2011, ING said in a presentation in August.
Bloomberg
