* Unit has assets of 1 bln pounds
* Barclays continues disposal of unwanted assets
* Buyer is Spanish online bank (Adds CEO quote, details on employees, costs)
LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - Barclays said onThursday it had agreed to sell its Barclaycard consumer paymentsbusiness in Portugal and Spain to Bancopopular-e, pressing aheadwith the disposal of unwanted assets under new Chief ExecutiveJes Staley.
Barclays said the business has assets worth 1 billion pounds ($1.46 billion), and the deal would result in a reduction inits risk weighted assets of 0.9 billion pounds.
The deal will also remove around 70 million pounds worth ofannual costs for Barclays, a spokeswoman for the bank said.
"Our credit card operation in Spain and Portugal is a verygood business with a highly talented and dedicated workforce butno longer fits with our strategic ambitions," Staley said.
Buyer Bancopopular-e is a Spanish online bank 49 percentowned by Banco Popular Espanol and 51 percent owned byU.S. private equity fund Varde Partners.
The sale would result in the transfer of 800,000 customersand around 500 employees, the spokeswoman for Barclays said.
Barclays said completion of the deal is subject toregulatory approval but should close by the end of the year.
The bank did not give a value for the deal, but said thebusiness would be sold "at a small premium to grossreceivables."
Barclays on Wednesday also said it was in discussions tosell its French retail banking operations to AnaCap FinancialPartners as it reported first quarter earnings that were moreresilient than expected. ($1 = 0.6857 pounds) (Reporting By Lawrence White; Editing by Susan Fenton and KeithWeir)