ING plans to repay the remaining €5bn in aid it received from the government by May 2012, the country’s biggest financial services group said in a statement on Monday.

The bank is paying back €2bn in May, bringing the total repayment to €7bn. The remainder will follow next year. ING will also pay a €1bn penalty for early repayment.
ING received €10bn in state aid in 2008 and transferred the risk on its risky US mortgage business – some €21.6bn – to the government.
The bail-out was approved by the EU on condition ING sold off its insurance business and some other operations.
‘ING has the money available, so why wait,’ Rabo Securities analyst Cor Kluis told Bloomberg.
ING made net profit of €3.2bn last year.