ING Sells Private Banking Businesses In France To Barclays Bank

ING has sold its French ING Ferri and ING Private Banking units to Barclays Bank for an undisclosed sum. ING announced it was in exclusive talks with Barclays on the planned sale in mid January, when a price of less

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ING has sold its French ING Ferri and ING Private Banking units to Barclays Bank for an undisclosed sum.

ING announced it was in exclusive talks with Barclays on the planned sale in mid-January, when a price of less than Euros 100 million ($122.6 million) circulated. Most such acquisitions have been priced at around 3.5 per cent of assets, implying a cost to Barclays of Euros 95 million on assets under management of Euros 2.7 billion.

The sale is the latest step in the consolidation of European private banking. ING says its strategy in France will now revolve around its ING Direct banking operation. The transfer of the businesses is expected to complete in early July.

Barclays is expanding its private wealth management and retail banking operations in Europe, and especially Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. The bank has 40 branches and 110,000 affluent customers in France already.

France is seen as one of the fastest-growing private wealth management markets in Europe, with an estimated 4 million well-off customers and investable assets forecast to grow by more than 7 per cent a year.

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