ING named Bank of the Year 2013

ING was named Bank of the Year 2013 in Western Europe by The Banker, a global financial magazine part of the Financial Times Group.

ING was also named Bank of the Year in Belgium and won the award Bank of the Year in the Netherlands for the third year in a row.

Focused, simpler and stronger bank

In its award selection considerations for Western Europe, The Banker acknowledged the difficult economic conditions, particularly in the eurozone and the introduction of new regulations, which made it a difficult year for Western European banks both to improve the balance sheet and service the needs of the customers. According to the jury, ING won the award for Western Europe “as it has emerged [..from the financial crisis] as a focused, simpler and stronger bank”.

Better service quality

The Banker commends ING in Belgium for managing to increase its customer base and providing a better quality of service through a major commitment to developing mobile and smartphone banking. In the Netherlands, ING won the Bank of the Year 2013 award for being the bank which has “the most clearly defined strategy to cope with the current banking environment.”

“These awards are a true recognition of the commitment of our employees to support our retail, corporate and institutional customers throughout this challenging financial environment,” said Hans van der Noordaa, CEO Retail Banking Benelux and member of the Management Board Banking of ING Bank at the award ceremony in London on 28 November 2013. “The awards also underscore our efforts to enhance our products, services and supporting IT systems in line with our strategy to make banking easier, accessible, and affordable for our customers.”

Optimising online offering

In 2013, ING continued to focus on improving our services to customers, taking into account their changing needs and expectations. For example, ING is optimising its online offering for both our private and business customers across Europe, as more and more of our customers prefer to conduct their banking transactions through the internet or a mobile device.

In combination with this shift to mobile banking, ING has redesigned bank branches in the Netherlands and Belgium with a focus on creating a more user-friendly, easy and accessible environment for customers to conduct business.

In 2013, ING continued to invest in its IT platforms, for instance in Payments and Cash Management ahead of the introduction of the Single European Payments Area, to deliver better customer service and be more competitive in an increasingly digitalized and regulated environment.

Pursue technological innovation

“For 2014, ING will continue to pursue technological innovation to support and meet our retail customers’ needs and use its expertise and international network as a leading commercial banking for our corporate clients both inside and outside the European markets,”,said Hans van der Noordaa.