For the banking group Neerland ING, this is a new disappointment, which is added to others, in particular the heavy fine of 775 million euros paid in the context of a money laundering case.

The takeover of Payvision in 2018 is proving to be a very bad deal, revealed the Dutch daily Financieele Dagblad. The international online payment platform has been used for years by various players in the pornographic and betting industries, who do not have access to traditional banking services. ING has already lost nearly 200 million euros on its investment, said Friday the Financieele Dagblad on the basis of an investigation.

Last September, ING quietly sold its fintech's most lucrative portfolio, that of porn industry customers, to one of Payvision's former owners. ING then had to write down €188 million in its accounts while the bank bought Payvision in 2018 for €350 million.

According to ING, the depreciation is linked to the coronavirus crisis but other online payment companies have done well in recent months, as lockdown measures have boosted online commerce.

"Strategic" operation

At the time of the acquisition, the former CEO of ING, Ralph Hamers, spoke of a "strategic" operation. However, Payvision had already been in the sights of the US anti-money laundering authorities for several years, the FinCEN and several US banks. Since 2013, employees of the Deutsche Bank and the Bank of New York Mellon have repeatedly warned against splitting large transactions into smaller amounts for no apparent reason. (ANP/Belga)