The Office of Fair Trading has opened an inquiry into the effects of the takeover of ING Direct UK by Barclays, the British watchdog said on Tuesday.

Banking group ING announced the sale of its internet mortgage and savings business to Barclays in October. The British bank will integrate it into its online banking business.
ING will make a loss of €320m after tax and release capital of €330m used to support the operation, the Financieele Dagblad said when the sale was reported.
The OFT does not specify the reason for the inquiry or give any indication of how long it might take.