Barclays agrees to acquire ING Direct UK 

Barclays agrees to acquire ING Direct UK

Oct 09, 2012 (Menafn - M2 EQUITYBITES via COMTEX) --Barclays Bank plc announced today that it has agreed to acquire ING Direct UK from Dutch firm ING Direct NV.

Through the deal UK-based Barclays will take over the deposits, mortgages and business assets of the business. This follows a review by ING of its strategic options for the ING Direct UK business and its subsequent decision to exit the UK retail banking market.

Barclays will acquire a deposit book with balances of GBP10.9bn and a mortgage book with outstanding balances of GBP5.6bn as at 31 August 2012. According to Barclays the mortgage book had a loan to value ratio of 50% at the end of August and is being acquired at an approximate 3% discount, while the deposit book is being acquired at par.

This transaction is expected to be accretive to return on equity immediately. The impact on Core Tier 1 capital is not material, Barclays said.

(USD1=GBP0.62)

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