Reporting changes cloud ING customer growth

ING Direct advised yesterday that it attracted more than 110,000 new savings and mortgage customers during the 2007 calendar year. The bank's quarterly financial statements, published on Wednesday night and reported here yesterday morning, showed a decline in numbers.

The bank said a change in internal reporting policy, adopted on a group-wide basis, resulted in a downward revision of reported customers numbers in the latest quarter. However, "2007 was in fact, another year of successful growth".