Barclays Bank Ireland has agreed the sale of its German consumer finance business to BAWAG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Austria’s BAWAG Group, the London-based banking conglomerate announced on Thursday. BAWAG P.S.K. will acquire Consumer Bank Europe for a small premium to net assets, payable in cash on completion, Barclays announced. Barclays expects the sale to release approximately €4 billion of risk-weighted assets. The company said the timing of completion does not impact Barclays’ previously announced capital return plans.