ING Group is ready to invest in the development of the ING Direct banking operation in Australia to turn it into a full-service primary bank.ING Direct's local chief executive, Don Koch, said there was no question that Australia was included in development plans for the global banking operation that were detailed earlier this month.At an investor day in Amsterdam, on January 13, ING Group's chief executive for retail banking direct and international, Eli Leenaars, set out a plan for transforming the ING Direct operations around the world from their current positioning as "second banks" with limited product portfolios to full-service primary banks.Leenaars cited development in Spain, which has developed a "lite branch network". He said he was looking for a stronger presence in higher yielding commercial banking markets, as well as balance sheet integration of retail and commercial operations.Leenaars said ING's banking businesses needed to be innovative, offering service delivery through new technologies such as mobile.Koch said: "You bet we are investing in Australia. The Australian business is seen as a key asset. It makes up more than three per cent of the global bank balance sheet."ING operates in Australia under two licences. ING Direct is a subsidiary, and a separate real estate finance business operates as a branch. One of Koch's tasks will be to bring those two businesses together to optimise the local balance sheet.He is also looking at new products. The last new product launch in Australia was the Orange Everyday transaction account which was launched about 18 months ago."We are very pleased with that product," Koch said. "We are looking at the market segments we are in, and where we think we can make a difference we will make a strategic play."He said there were no immediate plans to open branches in Australia. His view is that there are other ways to offer face-to-face contact with customers. Last year, ING Direct started selling its term deposits through Australia Post branches. The bank also deals with 7500 mortgage brokers and several hundred financial planners. As far as new technology is concerned, Koch said ING Australia was "ahead of the game". Ninety eight per cent of transactions are done online and there has been strong take-up of the bank's mobile application."The group's expectation is that we operate in accordance with a set of agreed principles. We must be a low-cost provider, win new business [and] achieve high levels of customer advocacy."It is up to each country to apply those principles and come up with a business solution. It is horses for courses."ING scores well in customer satisfaction surveys. Koch said he regarded customer satisfaction surveys as "barbeque scores".'If you are talking about banking at a barbeque you are more likely to mention who you bank with if you are satisfied. Word of mouth gets a better result for us than our spend on media."One area where ING Direct appears to have struggled is in achieving the "stickiness" that comes with being a primary bank.According to Australian Prudential Regulation