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ING Bank (Australia) Limited

Headquarters at 60 Margaret Street (Met Centre), Sydney
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Banking, financial services
Founded	1999
Headquarters	60 Margaret Street, Sydney, Australia
Area served	Australia
Key people	Melanie Evans, CEO
Products	Finance and insurance Consumer banking Corporate banking Superannuation Mortgages
Revenue	A$1.69 billion (2023)
Net income	A$654 million (2023)
Total assets	A$87.0 billion (2023)
Total equity	A$6.0 billion (2023)
Number of employees	2,486 (December 2023)
Parent	ING Group
Divisions	Retail banking, business banking, wholesale banking
Website	www.ing.com.au

ING Bank (Australia) Limited (trading as ING since 2017, and as ING DIRECT 1999–2017) is a direct bank operating in Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational Dutch bank, ING Group. ING in Australia holds an Australian banking licence as a foreign subsidiary company.

ING operates through a number of controlled entities: trusts and the primary bank division, ING, which operates under the segments of Mortgages, Savings, Everyday Banking, Consumer Lending, Superannuation, Insurance, Wholesale Banking and Commercial Lending.

Founded in 1999, ING in Australia was Australia's first direct bank. It has since grown to become the largest mortgage lender outside of Australia's Big Four banks. ING scores favourably with customer satisfaction and has the highest net promoter score of any major financial institution in Australia.

As of December 2023, the bank had over 2.8 million customers. In December 2015, ING had a mortgage portfolio valued at AU$38.6 billion and AU$1.6 billion super funds under management, with 34,000 active superannuation retirement accounts in 2014.

As of December 2020, ING had a loan portfolio of $65.2b and deposits of $46.6b. Total customers had grown to 2.8m.

History

Vaughn Richtor was the founding chief executive officer of ING DIRECT Australia in 1999, having joined ING Group in 1992. Richtor left Australia in 2005 to head ING Group's Indian operations, ING Vysya Bank before overseeing commercial and retail management in Asia from 2009. Erik Drok served as CEO from 2005 to 2009, followed by Don Koch until 2012. Vaughn Richtor returned as CEO 2012 while remaining to oversee management in Asia for ING Group.

In September 2009, the bank sold OnePath, its AU$1.86 billion insurance and wealth management stake it had shared with the ANZ Bank in a joint venture since 2002 (51% ING Group ownership; 49% ANZ ownership), making ANZ the sole owner. The divestment of ING Insurance Australia followed similar measures globally as part of ING Group's structural changes as a result of the 2008 financial crisis. In 2010, ING Insurance was subsequently rebranded as OnePath.

Announced in March 2012, the bank completed an upgrade of IT infrastructure in 2014. The "Zero Touch" project involved moving the bank's entire operations into a private cloud, claimed to be the first for any bank in Australia. Dubbed 'Bank in a box', virtualization of the entire banking platform allows for simultaneous copies of the banking platform to exist on the company's servers. This provides greater flexibility and efficiency for developing new products and services, and the new virtualization technology will also improve redundancy measures and customer experience.

In September 2012, the bank entered the superannuation market with Living Super, a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF).

Uday Sareen replaced Vaughn Richtor as CEO in June 2016 after Richtor announced his plans to retire from business.

In August 2017, the bank announced it was changing its brand name from ING DIRECT to simply ING.

In November 2020, Melanie Evans became CEO, the first female and Australian to lead the Australian subsidiary of ING. Prior to being appointed CEO, Melanie Evans led the Retail Banking unit having joined ING in March 2017.

Headquarters and physical locations

The bank launched as ING Direct in August 1999 and operated out of the offices of its sister company ING Australia at 347 Kent Street, Sydney and then North Sydney.

In March 2001 the bank signed a lease on several floors of the 14-storey office building at 140 Sussex Street, Sydney; subsequent growth led to the bank taking on additional floors over the next five years, culminating in ING leasing the entire building from 2007.

By the end of 2001, ING had a physical (non-branch) customer-facing presence, via its 'Customer Information Centres' (CICs), at 347 Kent Street, Sydney, 140 Queen Street, Melbourne (until August 2007), 100 Edward Street, Brisbane (until November 2010) and at 45 Pirie Street, Adelaide and 158 St Georges Terrace, Perth (both until late 2002). The Sydney CIC was relocated to the bank's headquarters at 140 Sussex Street in 2007.

In July 2002 a second office was opened in Tuggerah, approximately 100 km north of Sydney on the Central Coast of New South Wales; the building was shared with ING Australia. This office serves primarily as a Contact Centre, while also providing some limited administrative functions.

In February 2017 ING's headquarters, along with 1,000+ staff members, were relocated to 60 Margaret Street Sydney, where the bank signed a lease over seven floors of the 36-storey tower.

Retail banking

ING offers a variety of banking accounts and financial services to Australian residents. Operating as a direct bank, ING has no ATM network or branches of its own, with the exception of the customer service lounge at the ING headquarters in Sydney. Services and support are provided over the phone or through online banking. No-fee access to any Australian ATM is provided through a loyalty program.

Products

• Business savings and commercial mortgage accounts;
• Retail and Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) with life insurance;
• Savings and time deposit accounts;
• Transaction accounts;
• Variable and fixed-rate mortgage loans;
• General insurance; home and contents, car, travel and pet insurance;
• Personal loans;
• Credits cards;
• Wholesale Banking.

Government guarantee

The Australian government's Financial Claims Scheme guarantees deposits up to AU$250,000 per depositor per authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI). Deposits with ING are covered by the guarantee. ING operates in Australia as a foreign subsidiary with an Australian banking licence.

In 2008, AU$1.5 billion of deposits flowed out from ING, amid consumer uncertainty as to whether the Australian government's deposit guarantee scheme set up during the Global Financial crisis applied to foreign-owned banks. Despite the outflow, deposits soon stabilized with ING achieving a net income of AU$182 million for 2008, up from 2007.

Orange Everyday

ATMs are free to use throughout Australia and overseas where they pay no ING international transaction fees, as long as they deposit $1,000 or more each month and from March 2018 and make 5 or more card purchases.

See also

• Banking in Australia
• List of banks
• List of banks in Australia
• List of banks in Oceania

References

1. ^ "2023 Annual Report ING Australia" (PDF). March 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
2. ^ "List of Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions". Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). Australian Government. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 30 July 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
3. Varughese, Ansa (22 February 2015). "ING Group Selling $2 Billion in Mortgage Bonds from ING Australia Bank, Australia's Fifth Largest Mortgage Lender". Realty Today. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
4. "Australians more likely to recommend ING than other banks". PR Wire. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
5. "ING Direct tops customer satisfaction ratings". InfoChoice. Info Choice Pty Ltd. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
6. Drummond, Shaun (31 March 2016). "ING in Australia full-year profit rises 6pc on new customers". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
7. "Vaughn Richtor, ING Direct CEO". The CEO Magazine. 7 August 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
8. "CEO change at ING DIRECT Australia". ING DIRECT Newsroom. ING Bank (Australia) Limited. 4 June 2012. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
9. "ING DIRECT Media Release: Changing of the Guard at ING DIRECT" (PDF). ING DIRECT. ING Bank (Australia) Limited. 11 May 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
10. ^ Drummond, Shaun (22 January 2016). "ING Direct Australia chief and founder to retire". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
11. "ING". Banks.com.au. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
12. "ANZ Media Release: ANZ to acquire full ownership of ING wealth management, life insurance and advice businesses in Australia and New Zealand" (PDF). ANZ. Australia New Zealand Banking Group. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
13. Ryan, Peter (25 September 2009). "ANZ swallows local ING business". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
14. Jolly, David; Dash, David (26 October 2009). "ING to Split in Two Amid $11.3 Billion Rights Issue". New York Times. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
15. Cain, Russell (5 August 2010). "ANZ announces OnePath brand to replace ING Insurance". xLife. Life Insurance Direct Australia Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
16. LeMay, Renai (8 November 2012). "VMware out, Hyper-V in at ING Direct". Delimiter. LeMay & Galt Media. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
17. Andrews, Simon (6 May 2014). "Zero Touch project puts ING in a private cloud". ING DIRECT Online Newsroom. ING Bank (Australia) Limited. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
18. LeMay, Renai (7 May 2014). "ING Direct shifts entire bank platform onto private cloud". Delimiter. LeMay & Galt Media. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
19. Christie, Robin (5 September 2012). "Bank launches zero fee super fund, targets advisers". Wealth Professional. Key Media Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
20. Priestley, Angela (20 June 2021). "Parents are parents: How ING CEO Melanie Evans banished the 'primary' and 'secondary' carer labels". Women's Agenda. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
21. "Australian Retail Banker – March 2018 Edition". Issuu. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
22. "Melanie Evans – Head of Retail Bank at ING Australia". RFi Group. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
23. "Ing Direct Contact Number Australia | Contact Information Finder". www.webcontactus.com. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
24. Banney, Alison. "ING savings & bank accounts: ING interest rates | Finder". finder.com.au. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
25. "MOZO: ING DIRECT Orange Everyday". MOZO. Mozo Pty Ltd. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
26. "[PDF] Bank Levies in Australia: Lessons from Europe". silo.tips. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
27. ^ "ING Direct lost AU$1.5bn in deposits during financial crisis". news.com.au. News Limited. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
28. "ING DIRECT 2008 Financial Report" (PDF). ING DIRECT. ING Bank (Australia) Limited. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
29. Everyday Bank Account, ING Direct Australia. Retrieved 10 February 2018.

External links

• Official website
• ING Group

• ING Group
• Online banks
• Banks of Australia
• Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies
• Financial services companies based in Sydney
• 1999 establishments in Australia
• Banks established in 1999