Barclays Sells Italian Loan Portfolio to IBL Banca

By Razak Musah Baba

LONDON--Barclays PLC (BARC.LN) has agreed to sell a portfolio of salary secured loans in Italy to IBL Banca SpA as part of the bank's plan to exit non-strategic assets and businesses.

The lender said the portfolio forms part of Barclays Non-Core and comprises about 260 million pounds ($319 million) of gross receivables.

The sale will reduce non-core risk weighted assets by a further GBP170 million and will be broadly neutral to Barclays' CET1 ratio on completion, it said.

Last week, the British bank announced a deal to sell its Egyptian retail and corporate bank to Morocco's Attijariwafa Bank SA.

In May, Barclays raised GBP603 million by selling a 12.2% stake in its Barclays Africa business. The bank is currently trying to shed another tranche of its stake in Barclays Africa.

"Today's announcement further highlights the momentum we have in Barclays Non-Core and the progress we're making," said Harry Harrison, head of Barclays Non-Core.

The sale is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017.

Barclays completed the sale of its Italian retail banking network in August, and continues to operate investment banking and corporate banking in Italy.

Barclays said its residual mortgage portfolio and other non-core retail, wealth and corporate loans in Italy will remain part of Barclays Non-Core, with the intention to exit or rundown over time.

Max Colchester contributed to this article.

Write to Razak Musah Baba at [e-mail]; Twitter: @Raztweet

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 12, 2016 07:06 ET (11:06 GMT)

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