UPDATE:At Least 6 Bid For ING Private Banking Assets-Sources

Dutch banking and insurance company ING Groep NV (ING) has picked at least six financial institutions to enter the second round of bidding for its Swiss and Asian private banking assets, people familiar with the situation said Wednesday.

Market watchers expect the two offshore private banking entities owned by ING to fetch between US$1.8 billion and US$2 billion, which will help ING pay down a EUR10 billion ($14.2 billion) lifeline it received from the Dutch government in October last year.

Among the bidders to make it to the second round, according to two people, are Zurich-based Credit Suisse Group (CS), Singapore's DBS Group Holdings Ltd. (D05.SG), Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer Holding AG (BAER.VX) and emerging market-focused U.K. bank Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN). Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AU) is also bidding for the ING assets, a third person said. There's no information on who the remaining bidders are.

Shortlisted bidders have until Sept. 3 to submit their final bids, two people said.

While ING is selling the Asian and Swiss private banking assets separately, bidders can choose to bid for just one operation or both entities. Most bidders have expressed interest in scooping up the two operations together, two people said, as high net worth clients are characterized by their high fund mobility and demand for a great variety of investment options, both in terms of the product and geographical mix.

Credit Suisse declined to comment while DBS and Standard Chartered couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ.AU) had hired HSBC Holdings PLC's investment bankers to look at the assets, but eventually didn't bid for them, a fourth person said.

The Australian bank's wealth management business targets middle class individuals, not ING's ultra-high net worth segment, its Chief Executive Mike Smith told Dow Jones Newswires earlier this month, when he announced the Austarlian bank's US$550 million purchase of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's Asian banking operations.

ING, which had grown into a banking, investment and insurance giant from merging insurance company Nationale-Nederlanden and NMB Postbank Group in 1991, was hit hard during the recent financial crisis, with losses on real estate and other securities forcing it to seek government aid.

The firm is now streamlining its business and expects to raise between EUR6 billion and EUR8 billion by selling between 10 and 15 units.

-By Amy Or, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2832 2335; amy.or@dowjones.com

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