The financial services Group ING was under considerable pressure from the European Commission earlier this year to sell off all or parts of Postbank, according to a reconstruction by the Financieele Dagblad on Thursday.

The Commission apparently made the demand as compensation for the state aid given to ING by the Dutch government as a result of the Financial crisis, the paper says.
Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes decided the best solution would be to rejuvenate the Postbank brand and then sell it off, according to the Financieele Dagblad. She also wanted the concern to divest part of its internet services, ING Direct.
This stance followed fierce lobbying from Spain, France and Italy in the spring, according to the paper. These countries claimed that ING could lower tariffs and win market share as a result of the state aid it had received. ING received a €10bn bail-out from the treasury to help it through the crisis.
But ING was able to keep the Commission happy by splitting of its insurance arm, including Nationale-Nederlanden, and selling off a couple of its smaller banking units, reports the Financieele Dagblad.
Postbank was intergrated into the rest of ING’s services this year and no longer exists as a separate brand.