ING agrees to acquire retail deposits

ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial-services firm, agreed to buy more than 3 billion pounds of retail deposits held by UK customers of two Icelandic banks for an undisclosed amount.

ING will buy 2.5 billion pounds of deposits from Kaupthing Bank hf's UK unit and 538 million pounds from Landsbanki Islands hf's Heritable Bank, the Amsterdam-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Pilar Teixeira, a spokeswoman for ING, declined to comment on the price.

ING bought the deposits as the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority took control of Reykjavik-based Landsbanki and Kaupthing received a 500 million-euro loan from the central bank. Any retail depositors at the units whose business hasn't been transferred to ING will be paid out in full through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the UK government said in a separate statement."This is the right course of action to protect savers, ensure financial stability, and safeguard the interests of the taxpayers," the UK Treasury said.