ING to close half of bank offices, cut 440 jobs

ING is closing more than half of its bank offices and cutting 440 jobs, the Dutch bank announced on Thursday. This comes on top of another reorganization ING announced in November last year, ANP reports.

A total of 69 private bank branches will close, leaving only 59 still open. According to ING, the closing branches served only a small number of customers. 240 jobs will be lost in the offices, and another 200 in business units that provide advice to customers.

The bank will guide as many redundant employees to new jobs as possible, both inside and outside the bank. Temporary contracts will not be extended, and there will be a voluntary severance scheme.

To make sure clients can still get in-person assistance if they desire, ING is expanding its number of service points in stores like Primera and Bruna. This number will increase from 246 to 321 service points.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the bank's digitization plans, ING CEO Ruud van Dusschoten said. "Due to the corona measures, ING has again digitized more processes in the past year," he said. "It was no longer necessary to come to a branch to open a private checking account. Now it is no longer necessary in order to change an address or a mobile number."

ING is also adapting the organization of asset advice. Financial advice is increasingly being given online and customers generally only want advice from a specialist after they've done their own digital research, the CEO said.

The bank employs about 15 thousand people in the Netherlands. In November, ING announced that it was cutting a thousand jobs, mostly in the investment bank and in activities for consumers abroad.