ING has announced an agreement to sell its Russian business to Global Development JSC, a company owned by a Moscow-based financial investor with experience in factoring services. This move will conclude ING's operations in the Russian market. Under the deal, Global Development will acquire all shares of ING Bank (Eurasia) JSC and take over all onshore activities and staff in Russia. The new owner plans to continue serving customers under a different brand name.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025. ING has been reducing its involvement with Russian companies since February 2022, cutting down operations and separating its business from its networks and systems. The bank's lending exposure to Russian clients has decreased by more than 75%.
The sale is anticipated to result in a negative post-tax impact of approximately €0.7 billion on ING's profit and loss statement. This includes an estimated book loss of about €0.4 billion due to the difference between the sale price and the book value of the business, which would negatively affect ING’s CET1 ratio by around 5 basis points. Additionally, there is an estimated negative impact of around €0.3 billion from recycling currency translation adjustments through P&L, currently recorded in equity due to past exchange rate changes affecting ING Bank (Eurasia) JSC.
Post-transaction, ING plans to further reduce its offshore exposure to Russian clients, which was €1.0 billion as of September 30, 2024, with half covered by ECA or CPRI.