US probe into ABN deals may hit Barclays pact

NEW YORK: A probe by the US Justice Department into past money transfers at ABN AMRO Holding looms as a hurdle to signing a deal to sell the Dutch bank to Britain’s Barclays, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

ABN is working toward trying to reach a settlement with the Justice Department, but is facing time pressure, while Barclays wants greater reassurance that the matter can be resolved before signing a deal to buy ABN for an estimated $80 billion within the next two weeks, the newspaper quoted people familiar with the situation as saying.

Barclays does not want to inherit the risk of a criminal probe, these people said in the Journal. The exact operations under investigation by the Justice Department are not clear, the Journal said. ABN Amro has been in exclusive talks about a takeover deal with Britain’s Barclays Bank for the past three weeks, but analysts have suggested that other groups might be able to pay more if parts of ABN could be divested.

“It might be that a solid bank takes over and decides to restructure,” said Nout Wellink, the president of the Dutch central bank, which regulates the Dutch banking market. “Well, let them come to the supervisor, and we will look at it, and when it looks fine there will be no problem whatsoever.”