ING is a trading name of ING Bank (Australia) Limited which is owned by ING Group which is the third largest savings bank in the world.
ING was previously known as “ING Direct” and first operated a banking license in Australia in 1999, currently has a customer base of around 1.4 million and is Australia’s fifth biggest bank.
ING Direct brought the concept of branch-less banking to Australia and interact with their customers mainly via their website and Australian call centre. Operating this way they claim allows them to reduce costs and pass these savings on to customers with more competitive interest rates. They no longer maintain any branches.
The launch of it’s flagship product, the Savings Maximiser which offered a very high rate of interest on all balances from the first dollar, lead to its early success. Until that time higher rates of interest were generally only available to term deposits or once your savings account balance reached a high level. The Savings Maximiser’s launch as success has spawned similar products at almost every major banking institution in Australia.
The ING Group is well known around the world for similar strategies.
ING offer a suite of products including:
- Savings accounts (personal, business and SMSF)
- Term deposits (personal and business)
- Transaction accounts
- Home loans, and
- Commercial loans