The European Commission may be prepared to give banking and insurance group ING more time to divest activities via a stock exchange flotation, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.

The paper says the move is contained in the definitive restructuring plan published by the commission.
ING has already indicated it is considering an IPO for some of the units. If this involves the sale of at least 30% of the shares, the commission will ‘actively consider’ extending the deadline for the rest of the stake.
Brussels has ordered ING to sell off a large part of its activities by 2013 to compensate for the package of state support it has had from the Dutch government. The activities earmarked for sale include the insurance arm, US internet bank ING Direct and Dutch bank Westland Utrecht.