Brussels ignored information about ING, says central bank

The Dutch central bank has strongly criticised the European Commission for the way it imposed a restructuring plan on ING in return for agreeing to sanction state support for the financial services group, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.


The central bank says the commission ‘made a number of mistakes’ in assessing ING’s condition and that the divestment plan was too severe.
The central bank made the comments during a European Court of Justice hearing into the restructuring. The central bank has officially attached itself to the ING appeal, the paper says.
Unusual move
The central bank says in its submission that it is unusual for a central bank to get involved in a European dispute over state support, and that the Commission has tried to resist the move.
ING received a €10bn bail-out from the Dutch government, which also became guarantor for ING’s €27bn US property portfolio.
In return for its approval, the Commission ordered ING to sell off a large part of its activities, including the insurance arm.
Forced sale

ING is questioning the decision by the Commission to impose a package of measures such as the forced sale of parts of its insurance operations.
The central bank wants the court to recognise that the Commission must take information from a country’s financial supervisory body in such cases.

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