According to the New York Post, Ally Financial (the parent company of Ally Bank) is in talks to buy ING Direct. Ally is reportedly making this move in hopes of boosting their deposit base as they wind down their troubled mortgage assets. Discussions regarding this acquisition are apparently “far along, ” and rumor has it that the sale of ING Direct could fetch as much as $10B.
What do you think? Good news? Bad news? Or much ado about nothing?
Personally, I like both banks, though I’m not crazy about the possibility of Ally mucking around with ING’s excellent interface, or the possibility of Ally adopting ING’s typically lower rate structure. More generally, competition is a good thing, and I’d like to see as many good options in the banking space as possible.
Source: NY Post via MarketWatch via Jim Wang
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Bank Account Poll Results
Hey Jason. True ING Direct has troubled assets. BUT, they are from loans they bought from Countrywide a while ago. ALL mortgages ING Direct made are still on their books and they are activley working with borrowers who are in trouble. I don’t think Ally’s old connection where nearly as responsible. Also if you check the history, ING Direct recieved no bailout money. However the parent company is being punished for their banking fiasco by the EU.
Patrick, Ally Financial was bailed out not Ally bank, different division
ING had troubled assets too. Check the history.
What irks me is the fact that Ally Bank received government bailout funds and now they are buying a bank that was better ran and didn’t overextend.
Way to go, let’s continue to help the bad businesses become bigger and just buy the businesses who were responsible.
#3 — BG: right on!
I think it’s ridiculous that, during this recession, the big got bigger…and a “financial reform” bill was passed that did NOT address too-big-to-fail.
If I recall, isn’t ING (the parent company of ING Direct) currently fighting a requirement that they sell the US company? This could be them coming to a realization that they will lose their fight.
My concern if Ally buys ING Direct is…will they still continue to sponsor marathons such as New York City and the Georgia Marathon?
We should be splitting banks, not allowing them to merge. Nothing against Ally or ING, but I don’t want to see a repeat of “too big to fail” bank bailouts…
I have had ING for about 5 years now and they are my main bank because I love the ease of use and in the past, the high interest rates. I recently opened Ally accounts because of the higher interest rates but I prefer the layout of ING…with ShareBuilder too.
I have the same concerns you have…right now I have an Ally account with a reasonable (compared to others) interest rate. I’d hate to see that become less competitive.