ING discriminates on foreign-sounding names: Human rights organization

ING discriminated against two customers by blocking and checking their payments because their names did not sound Dutch, the College for Human Rights has ruled. Both customers had complained about this to ING because their names were the only reasons the bank blocked and checked their payments. ING denied it.

These are two different cases. The first involves a woman whose husband has a non-Dutch-sounding name, according to the College. Since 2021, ING has blocked several transactions in which her husband’s name was in the description. Each time, the bank asked her for her husband’s full name, address, and date of birth.

The second ruling concerns a man whose payments to his brother with an Arabic name were repeatedly blocked by ING. The bank asked him to provide the same information about his brother.

The College finds that ING acted incorrectly. “ING should at least have provided a clear and understandable explanation for the additional checks and should have been aware of the possible discriminatory effect of these checks.” According to the College, the bank has since apologized and acknowledged that communication throughout the entire transaction screening process needs to be more careful.

ING said itwas shocked that customers felt discriminated against and said it was taking measures to prevent this. “For example, think of improving our customers’ experience with customer research by better explaining why we ask questions,” the bank said.

According to the law, banks must check their customers for money laundering, terrorism financing, and sanction violations. But sometimes, they do more than is legally required, possibly out of fear of fines.

“Taking a hard line with customers just because they mention the name ‘Mohamed’ or ‘Abdelhamid’ in a transfer is not only very careless but also discriminatory and very painful,” said director and lawyer Jelle Klaas of law firm PILP, who represented the two ING customers. “Precisely because there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims and people with a non-white background, you as a bank have to be extra careful with your checks.”