Barclays Bank has agreed to sell £260m worth of its salary secured loans portfolio in Italy to IBL Banca for an undisclosed sum.
The sale is expected to reduce the bank’s non-core risk weighted assets by about £170m, the British banking group said.
The deal is expected to be wrapped up in the first quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approvals.
The latest move is part of Barclays’ strategy to boost profitability by disposing non-core assets. In August 2016, Barclays completed the sale of its retail banking network in Italy to CheBanca!, though it retained investment banking and corporate banking operations in the country.
The bank is also planning to run down or exit its residual mortgage portfolio and other non-core retail, wealth and corporate loans in Italy over time.
Earlier this month, the bank agreed to sell its Egyptian retail and corporate banking operations to Morocco's Attijariwafa Bank. In May 2016, it sold a 12.2% stake in Barclays Africa.
Barclays Non-Core head Harry Harrison said: “Last week we announced agreements to sell our Egyptian bank and our UK Trust business. Today’s announcement further highlights the momentum we have in Barclays Non-Core and the progress we’re making.”
