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CEO of ING Spain and Portugal at Matins Esade: “Our aim is to grow our bank hand-in-hand with our customers”
“Our aim is to grow our bank hand-in-hand with our customers,” explained Ignacio Juliá, CEO of ING Spain and Portugal at the latest Matins Esade session entitled On-line but personal: standing out in the new banking landscape. The CEO gave an overview of the bank’s roll-out in Spain from May 1999, when its main product was the Cuenta Naranja (orange account), to the present day with more than four million customers, with whom the bank is in direct contact, including Portugal, and more than 1,500 employees.
“We began with telephone banking and gradually grew in several phases. After running at a loss for the first three years, we broke even in the fourth and started to make a profit in year five. The launch of our Cuenta Nómina (salary account) in 2005 was a turning point for ING,” said Juliá.
Mobile and on-line revolution
“When we rolled out the ING app in Spain in 2013, we were real trailblazers: you could do everything with the app, and in 2015 the mobile revolution began,” said the CEO of ING Spain and Portugal at Matins Esade. He explained that in May 2022, a new app was launched after restructuring the bank to incorporate transversal teams into product areas. “Some 92% of interactions with our bank are via mobile phones, as are 68% of online sales”, he added.
At present, with a view to “continuing to develop products tailored to our customers,” Juliá explained that the legendary Cuenta Nómina has been revamped by the launch of the Cuenta no Cuenta (no-account account) “a nomad account for customers with no regular income – a mandatory condition for the Cuenta Nómina – who are unwilling to commit to the same extent”. “As a result, we’ve reduced the average age of our customers”. “Last year we had more than 620 million interactions with our customers, i.e., up 35% since 2016 when we had some 234 million. This is partly due to our personal contact with customers, the core factor of our business model”, added Juliá. In this respect, on-line sales also climbed to more than 830,000, in comparison with 400,000 on-line sales in 2016. “The pandemic increased the pace of going digital,” declared Juliá.
“The market is peculiar and uncertain but 2022 was a very good year that enabled us to earn €303 million, i.e., 14% more than the previous year with profits of €267 million.”
Sustainability and inclusivity
The CEO of ING Spain and Portugal also explained during this session of Matins Esade that sustainability is close to the company’s heart. “We moved to a new building and are now based in a building that runs 100% on renewables. We want to help customers make this shift, so we’ve also launched some new sustainable funds.” This bank is also committed to inclusivity and diversity and even before the pandemic it was a pioneer offering all employees flextime.
Matins Esade are meeting points where the leaders of companies and institutions address their own challenges and obstacles and discuss their business careers. Ignacio Juliá was accompanied by Patricia Valentí, director of Esade Alumni, and Jordi Fabregat, professor in the Esade Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting.