From Savings Mono-Line to Full-Service Bank: Growing ING Direct Spain

Started as a mono-line focused purely on savings, in late 2012 ING Direct Spain was becoming a full-service bank. To this end, the bank had substantially increased its productand channel-portfolio. ING Direct Spain originally provided “simple”, “good value for money” products in an “easy to deal with” way at low cost supported by a direct model. But with the growth in its product portfolio during the previous decade and the ambitious goal of becoming a full-service bank, an increase in complexity seemed inevitable. Like many businesses in the global, digital economy, ING Direct Spain found it needed to decide which complexity created value for its customers and which one not. It also learned that IT can contribute to complexity and/or help manage complexity. This case offers a close look at challenges of growing a company by increasing product complexity to provide comprehensive yet simple services.