High street service adopted by ING

ING Direct will now sell term deposit products through Australia Post outlets, the Financial Review reports. Two thirds of its clients prefer to open an account in person, ING told the newspaper.

Since it opened for business in Australia in the late 1990s ING had relied on "direct" channels; initially its contact centre and then it website to initiate new business.

At first the bank simplified account opening procedures by relying on the identity verification work of other banks (to whom ING savings accounts were tied). ING in recent years has undertaken that work itself, with Post outlets one option for customers to present the necessary papers.