ING wins partial victory in bail-out case The European Court of Justice has struck down part of a 2009 European Commission ruling that forced Dutch bank ING to divest large parts of its operations in exchange for receiving state aid during the financial crisis. For ING, the decision could lead to a relaxation of a timetable for divestments it has struggled with amid poor market conditions. It was unclear whether the decision would have wider implications for other Commission rulings on state bail-outs of financial institutions. ING and the Dutch government, which brought the case against the Commission's ruling together, welcomed the decision. But they said they would need to study it further to assess the consequences. The case centred on a dispute over the terms of ING's repayment of the aid it received during the financial crisis from the Dutch government. The Commission approved the state's infusion of €10bn in aid, which ING could either repay at a 50 per cent premium within three years or convert into shares. But in 2009 the government allowed ING to repay an initial €5bn of the debt at an effective annual interest rate of 15-22 per cent. The Commission ruled that this effectively amounted to an extra €2bn of state aid in unpaid interest and imposed extra anti-competitiveness conditions on ING, including barring it from offering the lowest available rates on mortgages and requiring it to sell its WestlandUtrecht Bank subsidiary on a strict timetable. In its decision, the court said the Commission had failed to investigate whether the 15-22 per cent annual return to the Dutch state was lower than what private investors would have expected for similar securities at the time. A year earlier, it noted, the Commission had mentioned a minimum of 10 per cent for similar securities. ING has complained that equity markets are too depressed for it to meet the Commission's deadline to find a buyer for its WestlandUtrecht Bank subsidiary. Its efforts to spin off its European and Asian insurance arms have also been delayed by market conditions.