ING Direct sells mortgages to Macquarie
ING Direct has completed the sale of a A$1.5 billion book of mortgages, which it put on the market in July. The buyer was Macquarie Bank.The loans came from ING Direct's non-branded (or white label) portfolio. It sold $1.5 billion of loans from the same portfolio in May last year and Macquarie was the buyer on that occasion as well.ING Direct's strategy over the past couple of years has been to become the main financial institution for more of its customers. Part of that strategy involves reducing the bank's exposure to the non-branded lending market - financing mortgage originators who market loans under their own brands.A few years ago, about one-fifth of ING Direct's mortgages were non-branded loans. Today that proportion is significantly lower.