KBC Group NV of Brussels has sold its reverse mortgage portfolio in the United States to a U.S. financial services company.
"The buyer doesn't want its identity to be disclosed," said Viviane Huybrecht, a spokeswoman for KBC Group in Brussels. "However, I can say it is a well-known, highly reputed U.S. financial services firm."
KBC did not disclose the price, either. The disposal will release $800 million of funds, KBC said.
The reverse mortgages were held at a New York subsidiary, KBC Financial Products USA Inc. The unit stopped accepting U.S. loan applications in July 2009 and will maintain "basic" staffing to guarantee an "orderly dismantlement," KBC said.
The company is scaling back its banking operations outside Belgium and central and eastern Europe after agreeing to cut its balance sheet by 17% as part of plan to reimburse $9.5 billion of Belgian government funds by 2013.
