ING expects to reach half a million customers in the first months of 2008, almost four years after it first entered the segment.
"We are about to reach half a million customers. We'll certainly hit this level in the first three months of 2008 and believe we can double the number within the next three years," Albert Roggemans, deputy general manager of ING Bank Romania, in charge of coordinating the retail unit, reveals in an interview with ZF.
At present, ING has more than 400,000 customers on the retail segment, after it registered 351,000 customers in mid-year.
Roggemans says the recent promotion campaign yielded "very good" results. Although he did not disclose the exact sum, Roggemans admits that quite a lot of money has been invested in advertising, though the amounts are not "extravagant" compared with rival banks. In fact, ING will soon resume the promotion of its Cont'Rol savings account, the basic product offered to individuals.
As a result of its promotional campaign, ING has managed to outpace the market rate in terms of attracting customers and has boasted a much more rapid growth rate against the lending market.
"At the moment, we've reached a 5% market share with our savings products and mortgage loans. We believe in terms of mortgage loans we are even higher than this level, but it's difficult to assess as some banks transfer this type of financing abroad," explains Roggemans.
On average, ING sells 1,000 retail loans each week.
Roggemans says he has a lot of confidence in the chosen development strategy. "The winners will be those who succeed in combining the Internet and traditional branches most efficiently. Direct contact with banking officers will continue to be very important, especially when upgrading to more sophisticated products, such as mutual funds or structured deposits," says Roggemans.
He adds ING is also set to introduce complex products in the future, starting with mutual funds, but did not specify any precise date for the move.
Until then, ING will introduce a credit card to its retail offer, which is expected in the first few months of 2008. It will also implement financing products for small firms, which the bank includes in its retail segment. At present, ING's retail network includes 138 Self'Bank offices and will expand to 200-250 over the coming years.
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