Dutch state and ING appeal EU ruling on payback of aid given during financial crisis

Dutch state, ING bank appeal EU ruling on aid

AMSTERDAM — The Dutch government and bailed-out financial services company ING Groep NV said Thursday that they are appealing a ruling by the European Union antitrust authority on repaying state aid.

ING said the EU viewed repayment terms agreed by ING and the government as too generous.

Of the euro10 billion ($14.07 billion) received from the Dutch government at the height of the financial crisis, the bank and insurer has paid back euro5 billion, plus euro606 million in interest, just under a year after receiving it. That amounts to an interest rate of around 12 percent.

But ING said Thursday the EU views the repayment “as additional State aid of approximately euro2 billion” because under the terms orignally agreed, ING would have had to pay euro7.5 billion.

“Both ING and the Dutch State contest this point as it could hamper discussions between ING and the State on repayment terms of the remaining” bailout money, ING said.

Finance Minister Wouter Bos told reporters in The Hague that revising the deal was only fair, because ING was the first bank to receive a bailout in the Netherlands and later applicants received better terms.

Asked whether the new deal wasn’t good for ING shareholders but bad for taxpayers, he said taxpayers benefitted from early repayment and “certainty that (the money) will be repaid.”

ING plans to lodge its appeal at the General Court of the European Union.

EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said EU regulators are “completely confident” that their decision on Dutch state aid for ING is “100 percent watertight from a legal point of view.”

Shares in ING shrugged off the possibility of an unexpected euro2 billion expense and rose 1.2 percent to euro6.81.

Separately, ING said it alone was also protesting limits placed on its pricing practices by the EU as a company that has received state aid.

The company said it would not disclose any more information about the appeal since “the matter is now subject to legal proceedings.”

Under pressure from the EU, ING last year decided to split itself in half, separating its banking and insurance activities. It said Thursday that process is continuing.

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Associated Press Writer Aoife White in Brussels contributed to this story.