Tuesday 10 March 2020: ING in Australia today announced a statutory net profit after tax of $440m for the 2019 year, up 9.7% on the previous year. The earnings came with another year of record customer growth and a 30% rise in the number of Australians treating ING as their main bank.
In 2019 ING:
- Attracted 423,000 new customers (total 2.6m)
- Added more than 450,000 new Orange Everyday transaction accounts (>2m total)
- Grew primary customers 30% - total 833,000
- Grew retail deposits 9.9% - $37b
- Grew retail mortgages 6.3% - $52b
- Grew business loans 9.2% - $4.9b
- Grew wholesale banking 13.3% - $5.7b
- Personal loans surpassed $245m
- Maintained status as Australia's most recommended bank*
ING Australia CEO Uday Sareen says:
"ING celebrated 20 years in Australia with yet another year of record customer growth."
"Over the past four years ING has grown its customer base by more than one million, withover 5% of Australians now nominating ING as their main bank."
"We also have more than 2 million Orange Everyday cards in use in either customer wallets or on their mobile devices."
"The growth of both retail deposits and retail mortgages (up 9.9% and 6.3% respectively) has been above industry average as overall customer numbers continue to climb."
"Savings and loans are the backbone of the business, but I have been particularly pleased with the growth of our consumer lending through personal loans and the Orange One credit card."
"We attracted more than 16,000 personal loan customers and developed a debt consolidation option – a good example of our customer-first approach to product design."
"ING added car and travel insurance to its range of insurance products during the year, with more than 60,000 policies now protecting our customers across the insurance portfolio."
Delivering a digital experience
Mr Sareen says customers have higher expectations than ever from their digital banking experiences.
"People want the ability to do their banking 24/7 in a simple and easily accessible way. The digital experience must be simple, faultless, effective and engaging."
"Our mobile app drives more than 800,000 customer interactions per day. More than a third of our customers deal with us only through the mobile app; for these people the app is the bank."
ING has maintained its number one position with the most recommended banking app+ and the most recommended website+ in the market.
"The desire for a seamless digital experience is increasingly the reason for people to change banks."
Financially empowering our community partners
Through ING Australia's Dreamstarter program, the bank has now helped more than 90 social enterprises grow and scale their businesses.
The Dreamstarter program helps start-up social enterprises tackle social and environmental issues.
The bank's long-time partnership with Cerebral Palsy Alliance continues to help teenagers and young adults build life skills to equip them to be self-reliant and independent in the community.
Wholesale banking
ING continued to grow wholesale banking in Australia, with lending increasing 12% over the year.
"What's been particularly pleasing about this growth is our increased financing of renewable energy projects like the Kiamal Solar Farm in Victoria - the state's largest- and the Snowtown 2 windfarm in regional South Australia."
"We aim to be a leader in sustainable finance and are committed to taking climate action by aligning our lending to the Paris Agreement goals."
"We continue to leverage our international expertise in wholesale banking to help clients fund renewable energy, infrastructure, natural resources, power and utilities, and food and agriculture."
