Barclays has struck a deal to sell its German consumer banking business to Austrian bank Bawag for a “small premium over net assets”, it announced on Thursday. The sale is expected to release around €4bn of risk weighted assets, increasing Barclays’ common equity tier 1 ratio by around 10 basis points on completion.
The sale comes as part of a strategic move to simplify Barclays’ operations and will allow Bawag to expand its loan book and customer base in the country. Barclays’ German banking business held €4.7bn in gross assets at the end of March, mainly in card and loan receivables, and employs around 700 staff.
