Barclays BARC.L has agreed to sell its German consumer finance business to Austrian bank BAWAG Group AG BAWG.VI for a "small premium to net assets", payable in cash, it said on Thursday, as the British lender aims to simplify its business.

Barclays said the sale is expected to release about 4 billion euros ($4.32 billion) of risk-weighted assets, increasing the bank's CET1 ratio by about 10 basis points on completion.

The business, called Consumer Bank Europe, serves customers in the German and Austrian markets and had gross assets of 4.7 billion euros at March-end, primarily in card and loan receivables.

($1 = 0.9269 euros)

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)