ING-DiBa AG said Feb. 19 that it plans to take over peer-to-peer lending platform Lendico Deutschland GmbH in the course of the acquisition of Luxembourg-based ECommerce Holding II Sàrl.

The German digital bank, which is a subsidiary of Netherlands-based ING Groep NV, has submitted the acquisition for approval with the German competition watchdog, the Bundeskartellamt.

ING-DiBa highlighted the acquisition of Lendico in particular, as the business is a good fit for its corporate strategy and there are future growth synergies, according to Nick Jue, CEO of ING-DiBa and head of ING Groep's operations in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. "We see big growth potential in the digital [small and medium-sized enterprise] business segment," Jue said in a statement.

Founded in 2013 as an incubator business of venture capital firm Rocket Internet, Lendico runs a global business and consumer lending platform. With around 9 million clients currently, ING-DiBa is the third-largest bank by customer numbers in Germany, according to its own estimates.