As part of an agreement with the European Commission announced today by ING to separate its banking and insurance operations, ING announced that it plans to divest itself of its ING Direct USA operation by 2013. ING said that it "regards the operation as a very strong franchise and the US market offers potential for growth. It is anticipated that a divestment will take several years and will not be completed before the end of 2013. In the meantime, ING will ensure that it continues to grow the value of the business and offer a superior customer experience."

In a review titled "Banking Without Tears", Dave Kansas writes for the Wall St. Journal a review of the new book The Orange Code: How ING Direct Succeeded by Being a Rebel with a Cause by Arkadi Kuhlmann and Bruce Philp -- respectively, ING Direct's U.S. chief and the chairman of ING Direct's marketing partner. [Editor's note: we've also just finished reading The Orange Code, enjoyed it very much and will be posting our own review soon.]

Holiday shoppers are not planning to reduce their spending significantly, despite news of financial turbulence, according to a new survey released today by ING DIRECT. The survey is part of ING DIRECT's new "We the Savers" campaign calling on committed savers to sign the online "Declaration of Financial Independence"; participate in informative online polls; and use "We the Savers" savings calculators, social networking and IM icons, online forums and more.

According to ING DIRECT's survey findings: "Although Americans seem more concerned about holiday spending during the current economic climate, half of them actually plan to spend the same if not more on holiday gifts this year as compared to last year. Most surveyed also indicate they plan to spend between $300 to over $1,000 on gifts. While this may help struggling retailers, the spending habits of consumers are not improving and their wallets are continuing to stretch. In plain terms, Americans are nowhere near where they should be in terms of saving their money." READ MORE

ING DIRECT has announced that it will "suspend foreclosure sales on occupied single-family properties through the end of March 2009. Furthermore, in the spirit of the holidays, ING DIRECT will also suspend evictions from occupied single-family properties until January 15, 2009. This formalizes a previously informal, internal process."

In a Finanser blog post titled "ING Direct: Rebels with a Cause", Chris Skinner writes from the BAI Retail Delivery Conference about an interview conducted with Arkadi Kuhlmann, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of ING Direct USA.

There are some great comments in Chris' notes. For example, when asked about hiring, Kuhlmann said: "We don’t hire bankers, because bankers come in with their DNA and they have their legacy which won’t fit. Instead we hire dancers, musicians and artists. People who can deliver a great and different experience. "

See also Kuhlmann's new book: The Orange Code: How ING Direct Succeeded by Being a Rebel with a Cause - now available in the Payments News Book Store on Amazon.com and in a Kindle edition.

In an article titled "The Holdup at Online Banks", Karen Blumenthal writes about why "transferring money between a savings account at one bank and a checking account at another easily takes two days -- and sometimes as many as four."

Currency Marketing's blog has a post today with an edited podcast of a recent keynote speech by ING Direct USA CEO Arkadi Kuhlman to the CUES Experience conference held in mid-May. Kuhlman's speech begins about 10 minutes into the podcast. Highly recommended listening!

As a reminder, there's a great Harvard Business School case on ING Direct written by James L. Heskett that's well worth reading. See this earlier Payments News post for details.

ING DIRECT has announced that it has partnered with Trusteer to become the first US bank to offer Trusteer’s Rapport consumer Identity Theft protection software free to all of its customers. READ MORE

The corporate parent of NetBank filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday following the takeover of its wholly owned savings bank by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation at the direction of the Office of Thrift Supervision. According to the FDIC, "all insured depositors are now customers of ING Bank, fsb (ING DIRECT), member FDIC."

Becky Yerak writes for the Chicago Tribune about a new ING Direct Cafe opening soon at the southwest corner of Chestnut and Wabash Streets in Chicago. More info about the ING Direct Cafes is available on the ING Direct web site.

Barbara Kiviat reports for Time about ING Direct's "reinvention of banking". ING Direct's CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann told Kiviat he will spell out his formula for other bankers: "We simply asked, 'What does a customer really want to pay for?'"

Forrester has a new report available titled "The Sources Of ING Direct's Success" - from the abstract: "ING Direct first opened for business in Canada 10 years ago. In the decade since, the company has become the most successful direct bank in the world with more than 17 million customers in nine countries. ING Direct's strategy of simple products, aggressive prices, and direct distribution has created clear differentiation from its competitors, and helped the bank make profits by keeping costs to a minimum. In the process, ING Direct has made direct banking look simple. Other business strategists can learn from ING Direct's combination of a simple offering, high-quality execution, and bold pursuit of scale."

Following ING Direct's general availability of it's new Electric Orange paperless checking account, Bankrate.com's Laura Bruce and Netbanker's Jim Bruene take a deeper look. Bruce notes that Electric Orange "has all the bells and whistles necessary to make a checkless account feasible for many people and, true to form, ING is sticking with its no-minimums policy to make this a free checking account."

ING Direct's web site now has information available about its new Electric Orange paperless checking account. The bank describes it by saying "America's first all–electronic, paperless checking account is going to change the way you do your banking. Earn a great rate, with online Free Bill Pay, easy access to cash, an Electric Orange MasterCard Debit Card and more – it provides the access and convenience of checking with the earning power of savings."

Laura Bruce writes for Bankrate.com about paperless checking accounts - among them ING DIRECT's Electric Orange checking account - soon to be generally available

In an article titled ING Direct Makes Checking (Almost) Fun Again, NetBanker's Jim Bruene reviews in detail the cool features of ING Direct's Electric Orange checking account - and critiques their decision to not provide an in-hand paper check option for customers and suggests they need to get with it and offer remote deposit capture capability as well.

comScore Networks has released the results of a study examining the share of the online High Yield Savings market among key players and the impact of recent rate changes on this marketplace. According to comScore, "the market for high yield savings accounts has become increasingly competitive during the past year, as evidenced by the emergence of new players and subsequent marketplace fragmentation. While ING Direct held a commanding share of new online savings account application submissions in Q4 2005 (53 percent), its share dropped to 25 percent during the same time period in 2006. Meanwhile, newer players like Citibank and Washington Mutual, which each held a negligible share of the market in Q4 2005, increased their share to 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively by Q4 2006."

Shaheen Pasha writes for CNNMoney.com about ING Direct's Electric Orange high-yield online checking account - saying that some industry analysts are skeptical of the service concept.

Jim Bruene reports on his Financial Marketing Weekly blog about ING Direct's latest results - showing a decline of about $600 million in deposits (about one percent) and 150,000 accounts (about four percent) in the third quarter of 2006. Bruene notes that ING Direct has not kept pace with new competitors on the interest rate it's been offering, apparently deliberately slowing its growth.

In a new video, the President and CEO of ING DIRECT, Arkadi Kuhlmann, has taken it upon himself to explain his outlook on saving money, how financial transactions should be as simple as buying a cup of coffee, and how ING DIRECT works to make that a reality.

The Sun's Financial Diary blog reviews comments and experiences from readers using ING Direct's Electric Orange checking account.

Better than toasters! ING DIRECT has announced it is running a promotion this morning providing "free gasoline to Atlanta commuters during today’s morning rush hour. Drivers who visit three Shell stations between 6:30 and 9:30 a.m. will receive a free gasoline fill-up as part of ING DIRECT’s campaign to lead Americans back to savings."

ING DIRECT has announced "the addition of six new mutual funds to its existing investment portfolio by its affiliate ING DIRECT Securities, Inc. The new funds provide a dynamic mix of investment opportunities for Customers and include three Asset Allocation Funds; a Money Market Fund; a Global Real Estate Fund; and a Global Equity Dividend Fund."

The Sun's Financial Diary blog - whose writer is an ING Direct account holder - writes about ING Direct's new Electric Orange account including some of the features included with it.

Ted Griffith reports for The Wilmington News Journal about ING Direct's "audacious" expansion plans - including its plans to introduce checking accounts dubbed "Electric Orange" on Feb. 1 of next year following a limited introduction to existing customers next month. Griffith reports the ING Direct plans to pay about 3 percent in interest on funds in the accounts - significantly higher than the average interest rates currently paid by other retail banks. Customers won't get checkbooks but will get an ING Direct debit card as well as be able to print checks as required on their home computers.

ING DIRECT President and CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann will be honored by the editors of American Banker with the Innovator Award on November 30th at the Pierre Hotel in New York. According to ING DIRECT, Kuhlmann has been the face behind ING DIRECT since its inception. Unlike most banks that had high overhead costs, high balance requirements and monthly fees, ING DIRECT’s business model enabled it to pass savings to customers in the form of consumer-friendly, simple products. “This award is a tribute to the energy, creativity and innovation of our employees,” Kuhlmann said. “Most financial companies are telling consumers to spend more. We’re showing Americans how to save more. Our innovation comes from finding new ways to empower everyday people to improve their lives.”

A colleague recently brought to our attention a Harvard Business School case written about ING Direct. The case (No. 9-804-167), written by James L Heskett, published in April 2004 and revised in May 2005, provides some fascinating insights into the evolution of this major direct online bank. What struck me in reading this case were the many "real world" issues that the US ING Direct management team were struggling with as they "needed to walk a fine line ... in communicating that ING Direct was an entrepreneurial, fast-growing, irreverent organization without going too far in contrasting it with the characteristics of its large, more traditional parent." If you've been interested in ING Direct's success, you'll definitely find this case makes very interesting reading.

ING Direct has been an amazing success story. Earlier this week, ING Group held an Investor Relations Symposium in London to review the performance of its various business units - including ING Direct. The presentation slides (PDF) are available online. ING Direct USA's CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann was recently profiled in US News & World Report. He's also one of the heroes of the new book Mavericks at Work by William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre.

ING DIRECT has announced it has launched a new login process using risk-based authentication and site-to-user authentication solutions from RSA Security.

This morning's New York Times has an interview by Jennifer Kingson with the chairman of the ING Group, Michel Tilmant. When asked about increasing competition for the kind of high yield savings accounts offered by ING Direct, Tilman made several interesting comments including that cross-sell is not what ING wants to do - preferring to keep it simple and avoid confusing clients with too many products.