# Future of ING in Canada?



## brad (May 22, 2009)

The US division of ING was bought last week by Capital One, which on the face of it sounds likely to bring an end to all the reasons why people bank with ING: no fees, no minimum balances, simplicity, good rates, etc. -- Capital One is the antipathy of all these things.

Capital One's response to questions from the NY Times seems to corroborate this; the carefully worded and noncommital responses leave their options open to start imposing fees in the future:

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/capital-ones-response-to-outrage-over-ing-direct-purchase/

It says the sale of the US subsidiary was required as a condition of the bailout of ING by the Dutch government -- is ING's Canadian subsidiary going to suffer the same fate? I think I remember reading somewhere (maybe on this forum) that ING Canada doesn't have to be sold off, but it would be nice to have confirmation of that.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

I don't know the answer to your question, however if ING went bankrupt, it's possible that the low/no fees model is not profitable enough.

If that's the case, then we might see that business model disappear - whether fees are raised by ING or some other company that buys them, might not make much difference.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Four Pillars said:


> I don't know the answer to your question, however if ING went bankrupt, it's possible that the low/no fees model is not profitable enough.


No, that's not what happened -- they were affected by the mortgage crisis a few years ago and had to be bailed out by the Dutch government. The sale of the US subsidiary was required by the European Commission.

I do remember someone posting here awhile back that the Canadian subsidiary is not affected by any of this and will continue on; I think the no-fee model has been profitable for ING in general.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

brad said:


> No, that's not what happened -- they were affected by the mortgage crisis a few years ago and had to be bailed out by the Dutch government. The sale of the US subsidiary was required by the European Commission.
> 
> I do remember someone posting here awhile back that the Canadian subsidiary is not affected by any of this and will continue on; I think the no-fee model has been profitable for ING in general.


Ok, that's good to know.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

I haven't heard anything that would affect ING Direct in Canada. My memory is now fuzzy but I do recall ING selling its stake in P&C insurance in Canada during the credit crisis. The company is now called Intact Financial (IFC) and IIRC, ING dumped it in a distress sale. Wish I had expressed an interest or purchased some in the open market at that time!


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

CanadianCapitalist said:


> The company is now called Intact Financial (IFC) and IIRC, ING dumped it in a distress sale. Wish I had expressed an interest or purchased some in the open market at that time!


Yes, we had our homeowners' insurance with ING, now Intact. We're happy with them, and the transition was seamless; our premium did go up a little this year, but not much. We will probably switch our auto insurance to them next year in order to benefit from the combined auto-home discount.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Our auto and home are with Intact (Belair Direct) as well. I wasn't very happy with their recent premium hikes but I couldn't do better with the competition, so I stayed with them.


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## RetireYoung (Jun 29, 2011)

ING is no longer competitive on interest rates for high interest saving accounts. Perhaps this was inevitable after they used low rates to buy market share in the early years. Or perhaps they're trying to increase their profitability now (to support their parent company) at the risk of future market share.


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## alphatrader2000 (Aug 18, 2010)

brad said:


> The US division of ING was bought last week by Capital One, which on the face of it sounds likely to bring an end to all the reasons why people bank with ING: no fees, no minimum balances, simplicity, good rates, etc. -- Capital One is the antipathy of all these things.
> 
> Capital One's response to questions from the NY Times seems to corroborate this; the carefully worded and noncommital responses leave their options open to start imposing fees in the future:
> 
> ...


The are never such confirmation in business life. But I believe ING has (nearly)furfilled its obligation to the dutch gov and would not need to sell the canadian division.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Isn't RBC selling its US banking as well?

ING rates are not the top anymore, but there's more to it than rates. .5% means jack all to me, and ING provides a great site to hold my funds in transition and pay my bills etc. Actually, they probably have the best online banking service I know of, which is valuable to me always being on the road

I can do far more with ING banking online then I can with B&M (who insist you sign a paper) Also the ING web site is better than B&M sites. Free banking is a sound business thanks to all the salaries and buildings they don't build in each and every town


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