GE, Capital One Said to Vie for ING Online Bank

"A buyer would gain control of the largest U.S. online bank and its $81.6 billion of deposits, which give lenders a funding base that is cheaper than offering debt. The purchaser would also have to contend with the bank's $40.5 billion of mortgage loans and $19.9 billion of mortgage-backed securities, based on the latest figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp... A sale of ING Direct USA may also require ING to shift a pool of Alt-A mortgage assets. Those assets, mostly held in ING Direct USA, were part of ING's 2009 government bailout, when the Dutch government agreed to assume 80 percent of the risk of the portfolio.''