SJB National Bank, formed by Related Cos. executives, and Capital One Financial Corp. are among the parties that have expressed interest in ING Group NV's U.S. online bank, said two people with knowledge of the matter.
ING is in talks with several potential bidders, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. The Amsterdam bank is seeking to sell or merge ING Direct with a lending operation and has also talked with General Electric Co. and CIT Group Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said in March.
The European Union has ordered ING to divest its U.S. online lender as a condition of a $14 billion government bailout. At the same time, ING has been seeking the higher-yielding assets it could get by combining with a lending operation. ING had been discussing combining ING Direct with Citigroup Inc.'s private-label credit card business; those talks have ended, one person said.
