Court orders ING to disclose details of deal with Google Pay

The court has ordered ING to provide the Consumentenbond with access to the bank’s agreements with Google. The consumers’ advocacy group and the Foundation for Victims of Action went to court earlier this year to force access to ING’s agreements with Google regarding the use of customer data. The organizations worry about the privacy of customers who pay using Google Pay.

ING switched from its own payment app to Google Pay in September 2024. So ING customers who wish to pay contactless with an Android phone must use Google Pay. “Undesirable, because it means customer data ends up with a tech giant known as a privacy violator,” the Consumentenbond said.

On Thursday, the Amsterdam court ruled partly in favor of the Consumentenbond and the foundation. The judge ruled that ING must give the organizations access to its agreement with Google regarding contactless payments via Google Pay by ING customers using an Android device. The bank has six weeks to do so.

The judge ruled that ING is not required to provide access to certain other data that the organizations had also asked for. This includes research data, among other things. “That data served to prepare the agreements made with Google, and the legal position of consumers is not determined by it,” the court said.

“We are pleased that the judge is not going along with the secretive behavior. ING simply has to be held accountable,” said Consumentenbond director Sandra Molenaar.

ING said it would study the “disappointing” ruling before making any substantive statements. In January, the bank said it was surprised by the lawsuit and “had the strong impression that ING is being used to make a point against Google.”