ING is reviewing strategic options for its online banking business ING Direct Canada and ING Direct UK, the Dutch bank announced on Thursday.

This message does not automatically mean that ING will sell the Canadian and British divisions, the bank emphasized. "These reviews may or may not lead to transactions, and no decisions have yet been made in this regard," ING said in a statement.

"ING is committed to conduct these processes with the utmost diligence in the interests of its stakeholders, including customers, employees and shareholder," it added.

ING Direct is the leading direct bank in Canada, launched in April 1997, with over 1,100 employees. ING Direct UK is a leading British direct banking platform which offers a focused range of savings and mortgages products with approximately 750 employees.

ING Direct businesses in Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will not be affected, the bank said.

The review is part of the bank's policy to streamline its businesses. In 2008, ING received state aid of 10 billion euros (12.28 billion U.S. dollars) from the Dutch government during the financial crisis. The bank still has to pay back 3 billion euros of aid and a fine of 50 percent refund. The full amount thus will be 4.5 billion euros.

As a condition of its bailout, the bank agreed with the European Commission to reduce its balance sheet, split its bank and insurance operations, and sell some assets such as the U.S. online bank ING Direct.

A lawsuit is pending with the EU General Court to decide exactly how much of the state support ING received needs to be paid back.