ING apologizes, postpones data sharing plan

ING will postpone its plans for data sharing, announced ING board secretary, Nick Jue, in an open letter to the bank's customers, in a response to the storm of concerns and questions about privacy violations. Jue apologized for the confusion and inconvenience. Last week the ING announced it would use consumer data, with permission from the consumer, to provide companies the opportunity to approach customers with targeted ads.

This would provide the bank with an additional source of income. Hans Hagenaars, director private banking, only fueled the negative emotions when he explained in an interview with Het Financieele Dagblad that ING wants to give Albert Heijn insight in consumer payment behavior. ING's plans are similar to the Google model, that shows ads based on the email conversations of the Gmail users. The advertiser will determine a target group, make an ad and ING will see to it the ad reaches the target group. At no point will consumer data be sold, stressed Jue. The Consumer Association is pleased the plan is postponed, but hopes it will be cancelled altogether. "It would be best if the bank improves its banking services first, since there's much room for improvement," said a spokesperson.