ING DIRECT Australia today announced a net profit after tax of $271.5 million for the 12 months to 31 December 2013.
ING DIRECT CEO, Vaughn Richtor says the bank has been progressively strengthening the balance sheet by improving the level of customer deposits in its pursuit to improve primary banking relationships.
“Our strategy is very clear, we are transitioning into a primary bank for our customers and focusing on building that relationship with customers, not simply growing assets,” Mr Richtor said.
2013 highlights include:
- The deposit to loan ratio increasing from 69.9% to 76.4%
- Risk costs normalised at $12.5m
- A healthy 13.7% total capital ratio
- Total customer deposits growth of 9% or $2.6b
- Competitive cost to income ratio of 35.1%
- Industry leading Net Promoter Score (14.8)
- Exceeding 1.5m customers
ING DIRECT has focused on becoming a primary bank for customers by growing the numbers of customers with multiple products.
“Orange Everyday accounts have grown by 34% over the year and Living Super is growing strongly,” Mr Richtor said.
ING DIRECT had the fastest growing superannuation product in the market with Living Super growing to 21,000 accounts by December 31 with funds under management reaching $641m.
“The reaction to Living Super shows that people want more control and better value with their retirement savings. There is an increasing understanding that fees do make a significant difference to retirement incomes.”
At the same time, it’s maintained a bias towards growing branded home loans.
ING DIRECT customers are also shifting towards mobile banking with half of all bank interactions being completed via mobile devices.
“Customers expect banks to connect with them whenever and wherever they want, so we expect the mobile trend to remain strong.”
ING DIRECT has maintained its number 1 position on Net Promoter Score, that is the number of customers who are likely to recommend the bank to family and friends.
“It is great to see that our customers are our biggest advocates,” Mr Richtor said.
Media contact:
David Breen
Head of Corporate Affairs, ING DIRECT
Ph: 0412 933 060
Email: david.breen@ingdirect.com.au
About ING DIRECT
ING DIRECT changed the way Australians bank 15 years ago by launching the country’s first high interest, fee free online savings account. Since then, we’ve brought this low fee value to home loans, transactional banking and superannuation. With over 1.5 million customers – and $30 billion in savings and $38 billion in mortgages – ING DIRECT has the highest reputation of any other bank in Australia (RepTrak, Oct 2013), as well as the highest Net Promoter Score (NFSM, December 2013).