The European Commission has refused to allow financial services group ING to repay €1.2bn to private investors because it has not yet repaid all its debt to the government.

‘ING cannot repay its private hybrid capital holders until it has repaid the capital it received from the Dutch state in full. This is to ensure a fair distribution of the rescue burden in the first place,’ a commission spokesman said.
ING has received €10bn from the Dutch state in October 2008 and has so far repaid €5bn.