# "Big Changes" Coming to ING Direct in Canada



## brad (May 22, 2009)

Not sure how "big" these changes will be or what they're planning, but ING made this announcement today on their Facebook page:

"There are some big changes coming to ING DIRECT this week. Changes that will encourage Canadians to stop banking in the past. This photo represents a scene from our new commercial, which launches across Canada this week."

Guesses/wishes on my part are that they may have decided to make ATM withdrawals available for free from a wider network than the current very limited one, and maybe they've either decided to offer ePost or are launching a competing service so you can receive and pay your bills online via the ING website. We'll see...


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Ugh, it looks like the "big changes" might simply be a rebranding effort; so far they are not talking about any actual new features or services, just rebranding themselves with the tagline of "forward banking" and "stop banking in the past."


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## NorthernRaven (Aug 4, 2010)

Here's their PR release associated with this new branding effort.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

brad said:


> Ugh, it looks like the "big changes" might simply be a rebranding effort; so far they are not talking about any actual new features or services, just rebranding themselves with the tagline of "forward banking" and "stop banking in the past."


I was just about to say the same thing. It's just a new marketing initiative.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

I wish they would make some big changes to increase their interest rates, lol


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Gotta love marketing. "Big" and "Exciting" turns out to be nothing more than new branding.


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## Causalien (Apr 4, 2009)

I love how cynical we get as we grow older and more experienced.


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## dsaljurator (Jan 12, 2012)

they sent me an email today with a couple of links in it

CEO talking about "big things": http://ingd.ca/JDeMo5

new commercial: http://ingd.ca/Jv1nBn

I have to agree with the vast majority of the commenters. ING has lost touch with the reason that most people switched to them in the first place. High Intest Rates. I moved almost all the money i had with them away years ago when PCF introduced their first high interest savings account, which had a better interest rate. Now that money is at CTFS for the same reason.

This new campaign has me debating pulling out the last big of money that i have with them, which is basically sitting idle in an RSP account (and isn't much really). Probably not the results the were looking for.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

CC you guys should have done a similar marketing plug prior to your CMF renovation.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

My only beef with ING is that they built everyone's expectations with their "big changes" teaser, and then burst the balloon with a mere cosmetic makeover. I have a friend who worked as a garbageman for years and one day his boss told him his job title had been changed to Sanitation Engineer. But nothing else changed: same garbage, same pay.

Apart from that, I'm still happy with ING; my motivation for switching to them in the first place wasn't their high interest rates but their lack of fees (PCF isn't available where I live...there are workarounds but they are complicated). I've saved more than $250 in banking fees since I switched, and have no complaints.


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## 44545 (Feb 14, 2012)

The ad I saw a moment ago seemed to focus on "the future of banking" and depicted a client accessing ING via an iPad. Is this really just a marketing campaign or are they introducing better online and mobile banking tools and apps?


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

I am disappoint. But not much ING should do business wise seeing as they already have a relatively great service in Canada.

Seeing as they were originally from Europe, I was hoping they'd copy some of the "future of banking" Europe had decades ago. Google tried to bring some of Asia's advancements to America with digital wallets but apparently it will take a long time to catch on.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Cal said:


> CC you guys should have done a similar marketing plug prior to your CMF renovation.


Unfortunately, we couldn't afford the $5K or so for the press release!


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