The OFT has announced that it has cleared Barclays Bank’s anticipated acquisition of “certain assets of ING Direct N.V., including its UK retail savings and residential mortgage businesses.”

Barclays Bank announced on the 9th October 2012 that it had agreed to acquire the deposits, mortgages and business assets of ING Direct UK.

The acquisition follows the announcement by ING Direct N.V. on the 2nd August 2012 that it would review its strategic options for the ING Direct UK business, and its subsequent decision to exit the UK retail banking market.

In November, the OFT said that it would scrutinise Barclays’ planned takeover of Dutch rival ING’s British retail banking business to make sure it would not restrict competition.

Under the terms of the transaction, Barclays will acquire a deposit book with a balance of £10.9 billion and a mortgage book with an outstanding balance of £5.6 billion (as at 31st August 2012).

The mortgage book had a loan to value ratio of 50 per cent on 31st August 2012 and is being acquired at an approximate three per cent discount; the deposit book is being acquired at the same discount.

The transaction is expected to be accretive to return on equity immediately and the impact on Core Tier 1 capital is not material.

On completion, 1.5 million customers will transfer to Barclays and approximately 750 ING Direct UK employees will be based at offices in Reading and Cardiff.

Barclays intends to integrate the ING Direct UK business into its UK Retail and Business Banking division.

Until integration, Barclays will continue to utilise ING Direct UK’s operations and platforms to service existing customers.

Customers are expected to continue to enjoy at least equivalent terms and conditions to those which they currently have with ING Direct UK.

Ashok Vaswani, Chief Executive of Barclays UK Retail and Business Banking, said: "We will be delighted to welcome ING Direct UK customers to Barclays. We intend to maintain the high standard of service and honour the existing terms and conditions they have experienced with ING Direct UK. The acquisition of ING Direct UK is a good fit with Barclays’ existing UK retail banking business.”