News Summary: Sale of Korean unit hurts ING profit
News Summary: ING 3Q profit falls on Korean asset sale; new CEO says 'thanks' for 2008 aid
SALE HURTS RESULTS: ING Groep NV saw its third-quarter profit fall sharply after it booked a 950 million euro loss on the sale of insurance operations in South Korea. Net profit fell to 101 million euros ($136 million) from 659 million euros. Underlying profit rose 5.6 percent.
BAILOUT THANKS: The company's new chief executive said ING is close to repaying the 10 billion euros in rescue money it received from the Dutch state in 2008 and 2009 and is "grateful" for the taxpayer money.
SURPRISE SOURCE: ING said a deal the company struck in 2009 with the Dutch state to offload most of its 24 billion euro portfolio of subprime U.S. mortgage-backed bonds will result in a 400 million euro profit when it sells the remainder of the portfolio next year.
