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Dutch online bank ING is cleaning up its French customers. Several hundred thousand of them saw their accounts closed earlier this week. A maneuver in view of the future resale of ING France.
ING had announced it at the end of December. It is withdrawing from the online banking market in France. According to a consumer association, around 300,000 customers have had their savings accounts closed.
Asked by AFP, ING confirmed on Friday January 7 that a procedure for closing Orange Savings Accounts (LEO) had been initiated since the summer of 2021 with customers “ who do not have other products at ING ».
These closures concern a very specific product of the bank which is justified by explaining that with an interest rate of 0.01%, these passbooks are very low remunerative for customers.
Société Générale and Crédit Mutuel in the ranks
The other hypothesis put forward by the France Conso Banque associationis that ING is preparing to sell its portfolio of French customers. The Société Générale and Crédit Mutuel are also in the running. But to sell at best, ING would like to clean up its small accounts that are very inactive and therefore very unprofitable for the future buyer.
This is all legal. A bank has the right to unilaterally close a customer’s account. But she must respect a period of notice. Some furious French ING clients have formed a defense collective to bring the case to court around this deadline, which they believe has not been fully respected.
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