Scotiabank Buys ING Direct Canada

Scotiabank, in announcing a takeover of ING’s Canadian operations, ING Direct Canada, pledged to maintain what ING’s Canadian customers like about the largely Web-based bank. (The Epoch Times)

By Kristina Skorbach

Kristina Skorbach

Kristina Skorbach is a Canadian correspondent based in New York City covering entertainment news.

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August 30, 2012Updated: October 1, 2015

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Logos of ING and Scotiabank — Scotiabank, in announcing a takeover of ING's Canadian operations, ING Direct Canada, pledged to maintain what ING's Canadian customers like about the largely Web-based bank. (The Epoch Times)

Scotiabank announced Wednesday that it would acquire ING Direct Canada for $3.1 billion with little change for the customers of either company.

“Scotiabank is committed to preserving everything that ING Direct Canada’s customers have come to love about it,” said Anatol von Hahn, the Group Head of Canadian Banking at Scotiabank, in a Scotiabank news release.

While Canadian banks are working to develop their online services, ING Direct has grown its popularity by operating few service centres and relying heavily on Web and mobile device banking.

Instead of branches, the bank operates call centres along with five service centres—so-called Cafés—in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary where customers can stop by to do their banking face to face with ING Direct staff.

ING Direct customers will be able to access their accounts in the same way they do now, with the same account numbers and passwords, and according to Scotiabank, the name and branding of the bank will remain the same “for a number of months.”

ING Direct customers will not be able to access their accounts through the Scotiabank ATM machines initially, although this option is in the works.

“I am very pleased that in Scotiabank we have found a complementary owner with the ambition to further grow the business, which is a testament to the quality of our local management and employees as well as to the strength and potential of the business model,” said Jan Hommen, CEO of ING Group, in an ING news release.

ING Groep N.V., a global financial institution based in the Netherlands, began Canadian operations in April 1997 with the launch of ING Bank of Canada, the formal name of ING Direct Canada.

ING Direct Canada has grown to serve 1.8 million customers with more than 1,100 employees, and according to ING, the bank holds C$40 billion in assets.

The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close by December 2012.

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