ING expands to curb dependence on a few major clients

The plans, which ING Bank has for this year centre on further investment in retail through the opening of another 80 offices of the Self”Bank type, Dirk Serbruyns, ING Romania chairman, told ZF. The bank had developed a network of 85 offices by the end of 2005, 47 more than in 2004, when the programme was launched.

“We will invest several million euros to double our network this year. In line with the project, in 2007 we should reach the critical mass of customers necessary to make this business segment profitable,” the ING Bank chief said.

At present, the number of accounts opened by individuals tops 160,000. Serbruyns states the product portfolio addressing this customer segment will be complemented in the following months with consumer loans, as well as new services with regard to cards and the payment system.

“In terms of payments, we will continue to bring new solutions onto the market”.

At the same time, the bank will expand the possibility of personalising the electronic fields that need to be completed for a customer”s frequent payments, meaning that less time should be spent inputting the 16-figure IBAN accounts and queues should be avoided.

The bank also intends to install additional machines in those Self”Banks experiencing above-average numbers of users.

Dirk Serbruyns says ING is trying to also propose to companies the cash collecting service that is available through the Self”Bank network.

“We already have such a collaboration with Coca-Cola, which has progressed beyond the testing stage and is functioning quite well, with the respective machines coping well with the large cash sums,” stated Serbruyns.

As regards insurance, he says ING continues to closely monitor the progress regarding the reform of the pension system. In parallel, new personal protection products are going to be developed.

The ING chief says the bank is considering the possibility of introducing general insurance into its product portfolio, beside the life insurance segment, which ING is a leader on, with the respective products to be sold through the bank”s branches. “Bancassurance can be a very powerful segment, led by lending activity”.

On the segment for services focussed on companies, this year”s projects are related to the expansion of the network by another 5-6 branches beside the 16 already in existence.

The bank also plans to get closer to smaller companies, with turnover of more than 3 million euros.

“We will continue to enlarge our customer base, so that we should no longer depend on several major companies,” says Serbruyns, in the context in which ING Bank lost AND (the National Road Administration) as a customer, with this institution paying off its loans early and moving to BCR. razvan.voican@zf.ro