ING buys time by appealing against Brussels’ restructuring plan

ING said on Tuesday it is to appeal against the European Commission’s decision to reaffirm the break-up of the Dutch financial services group.


The Commission said in May it would launch an investigation into changes in the way ING agreed to repay Dutch state support given to the financial services group during the financial crisis, but reconfirmed the order to ING to divest large parts of its operations.
ING was ordered to sell off some activities in return for a €10bn bail-out in 2008. The money could be repaid within three years with a 50% premium or converted into shares.
However, the government allowed ING to repay €5bn of the debt early, at an interest rate of up to 22%. The Commission ruled this amounted to an extra €2bn in state aid and imposed extra conditions on the bank.
Progress
In a short statement on Tuesday, ING said it and the Dutch state are in talks with the European Commission on an amended and updated restructuring plan. ‘Good progress has been made but more time is needed to come to a final agreement acceptable to all parties,’ the statement said.
In the meantime, ‘in order to safeguard its legal rights’, ING has filed an appeal against the decision re-approving ING’s restructuring plan. The deadline for appeal is 24 July 2012.
In March, the European court of justice ruled that part of the European Commission’s decision to force ING to sell some operations in return for state aid was wrong.

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