ING announced today that it has reached an agreement to transfer its local custody services business in seven countries in Central and Eastern Europe to Citi, one of the world's largest providers of custody services.

The transfer of local custody services in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine is in line with ING's strategic objective of sharpening the focus of the bank and a result of the strategic review of ING Commercial Banking's business portfolio presented in November 2012.

ING Bank will continue to offer a wide range of commercial banking products in the Central and Eastern Europe region. ING's Commercial Banking network in CEE spans 10 countries offering Lending Services, Transaction Services, Corporate Finance and Financial Markets products to its local and international clients. ING will  continue to offer custody services in Poland, where it is an integrated part of the full service banking offering. Today's transaction does not impact ING's retail banking operations or ING's insurance and investment management businesses in the Central and Eastern European region.

The transaction announced today is not expected to have a material impact on ING's results. The transfer is subject to customer consent and applicable regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2013 while the full migration of the clients business is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2014.

ING custody services offers a range of products to mainly institutional clients, including safekeeping of securities, settlement of securities transactions and collecting information and income on the securities held under custody. The transaction announced today concerns a workforce of around 130 FTEs across the region and approximately EUR 110 billion assets held under custody as of the first quarter of 2013.

Citi is a leading provider of Securities and Fund Services offering integrated cash management, trade, and securities and fund services to its clients around the world. With a network that spans more than 95 countries, Citi supports over 65,000 clients. As of the first quarter of 2013, it held on average $415 billion in liability balances and $13.5 trillion in assets under custody.