Dubai Channels forum to hear full story of ING Direct

ING Direct's online approach got the bricks and mortar customers' attention over the coffee table around the world - and big time. Globally, customer numbers last year grew to 8.5 million people, up from five million the previous year.

In the US alone ING Direct has acquired 1 million customers and $10 billion in assets inside two years, making it one of the country's fastest growing banks.

The fascinating ING Direct story will be outlined for the first time in the Gulf this month at Channels, the international global strategy forum at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Rd April 25-28. Channels covers globalisation, profitability and technology. Experts are flying in from Europe, Asia, Far East, Australia and South Africa. Channels also includes an exhibition catering for the top level of the financial services industry.

Vic Wolff, a senior ING Direct executive from the Netherlands will brief executives in the Middle East on the ultimate online banking success story in his address "New Kid in Town."

Some aspects of the concept have already been adapted in the Gulf, particularly in ME Bank and by HSBC, but it may be stepped up in the region after Wolff's address. Some analysts say the Dutch-controlled bank's growth in its high-interest savings deposit business comes from investors deserting other investment classes such as shares as well as from unhappiness with rival banks.

"You can often benefit from doing things differently and that's what ING Direct is all about," says Channels Conference Director Cordelia Henry of IIR, the organiser of Channels. "Channels will give the banking industry in the Gulf the chance to see what makes ING Direct tick. With the maturing of the 'Net it has been fascinating to watch the shuffling of web-based commerce with the established kind."

ING Direct launched its first direct banking operation in Canada in 1997. Since then it has successfully launched operations in Spain, Australia, France, Italy, USA and UK.

Jim Bruene, editor and founder of Seattle's Online Banking Report, says ING Direct's high rates are a hallmark of Internet-only banking. Bruene, an account holder at ING almost since it entered the U.S. market about three years ago, says the bank typically pays about twice the interest rate available for similar savings accounts at traditional banks.

ING Direct is booming in Australia, revealing a $77.8 million profit last year. During the year, the bank lifted its customer base by 55 per cent to more than 600,000 and increased its deposits from $7.6 billion to $11.4 billion, up almost 50 per cent. Loans and advances rose almost 42 per cent to $12.3 billion from $8.7 billion.

Analysts point out that Internet banks, like their virtual counterparts of every sort, gain their competitive advantage by saving money on bricks and mortar, or on rent.

ING Direct's Internet cafes are just that: storefronts that don't conduct banking business or handle cash, except as payment for items on the menu. Sure, you can check your account - or your e-mail - at one of the free computer terminals. But you can't make a deposit or a withdrawal, or conduct any other ordinary banking business.