Barclays buys ING Direct UK

Barclays has bought ING Direct UK in a deal which has given it £10.9bn in customer deposits and a £5.6bn mortgage book.

The deal will also involve the transfer of 750 ING Direct staff and 1.5 million customers to Barclays. It comes after Dutch banking group ING announced its plan to exit the UK in August. The group is currently in the process of repaying a bailout from the Dutch government back in 2008. The acquired mortgage book had a loan to value ratio of 50% as at 31 August 2012 and is being acquired at a 3% discount. ING said the sale would result in a £260m after-tax loss on the sale. Barclays shares were marginally weaker in trading first thing this morning following the news, down 0.6% or...