ING shops $500 million in AI data center loans as banks trim risk

What ING is selling

ING is circulating a portfolio of a dozen data center loans worth roughly half a billion dollars, according to Bloomberg. Among the holdings is a $25 million stake connected to the Stargate project in New Mexico that involves OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle, plus exposures associated with Vantage Data Centers and CyrusOne. According to Bloomberg, which published the specifics on Friday based on information from people familiar with the matter, ING declined to comment.

As of 3:38 PM CET, delayed data showed ING Groep N.V. at 28.76 euros, down 1.59%.

How the auction works

The portfolio is being offered through a bids-wanted-in-competition process - a BWIC - where investors compete to buy pieces of the loans. Bloomberg reported minimum bid sizes of $10 million, with bids due by Nov. 19.

SMBC's global markets strategist, Hank Calenti, noted that investment banks frequently originate these loans with the aim of distributing them. He added that buyers can include private credit investors, asset managers and insurers, who are attracted by the potential for higher returns.

Why banks are moving this risk now

Banks are increasingly shifting data center credit exposure to nonbank buyers as financing for the AI build-out scales up. At the same time, worries are growing about rising debt tied to AI infrastructure and the chance that returns may undershoot expectations.

After Democrats secured a sweeping victory in the U.S. midterms, those concerns have intensified, potentially opening the door to moratoriums or tighter state-level restrictions on data center development. On Thursday, fears of slower build-outs weighed on AI-related shares, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5% - the steepest decline since April 2025 - pushing it into correction territory. Aberdeen Investments' Pruksa Iamthongthong, who leads APAC equities, said, "We think near-term volatility could continue as the market assesses potential delays to U.S. data center construction and constraints around compute capacity."

New technologies reshape the investment landscape, and thoughtful investors look for practical advantages. We're hosting our first ever investor livestream on 11/17 to show you how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro, hosted by Briefs Finance CEO Jaspreet Singh. Save your seat.

"Whether banks sell more based on AI data centers moratorium fears should be driven by the cost (discount received) versus the benefit of exiting to free up cash for further lending, where the cost includes explaining the exposure to your board," Calenti told CNBC via email. "This could be business as usual, or financiers looking to exit before the door shuts."

Earlier this year, several Wall Street banks - among them JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley - were reported to be exploring ways to cut their exposure to data center construction. A May 3 Financial Times report said approaches under review included private sales of portions of debt to non-bank lenders and the use of significant risk transfers, mechanisms that move part of a bank's credit risk onto investors so as to free up balance sheet capacity.

What this means for your portfolio

This BWIC should reveal how private credit, asset managers and insurers price AI data center risk in size - minimum bid $10 million, deadline Nov. 19. Watch that clearing level.

The bottom line: if you hold names tied to AI infrastructure or lenders financing it, funding costs and build timelines are the swing variables. Policy scrutiny and construction capacity can flip sentiment quickly, and banks are responding by laying off risk to investors seeking yield.

A calm approach and smart tools can help investors capture long term opportunities. On 11/17, our CEO Jaspreet Singh goes live for our first ever investor livestream on how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro. Register to join him.