ING Direct 2006 Annual Report Download - page 9

The only way to achieve growth in a
market is to put our customers fi rst, to
know what their preferences are and
how we can best serve them. A satisfi ed
customer provides a good opportunity to
expand our product range and to attract
new customers. We have launched a
number of initiatives, especially in mature
markets, to improve customer centricity.
To check our progress, we continually
monitor customer satisfaction.
In 2006, increasing brand awareness was
a key priority. After thorough research we
decided to sign a three-year sponsorship
agreement with Renault Formula One. We
chose Renault for its track record as a top,
high-performing team. Coupled with our
fi rst-ever global marketing campaign we
aim to increase ING’s visibility and raise our
brand awareness.
We want to position ourselves as a
company that sets the standard in helping
our customers manage their fi nancial
future. When customers consider doing
business with ING, they should know
exactly what they will get. They should
know that ING is easy to deal with, that
we treat our customers fairly and that we
deliver on our promises.
Exemplary customer service Managing costs, risk and reputation
Higher returns and profi table growth
require sound business sense, including the
management of costs, risk and reputation,
and instilling a winning performance
culture among employees.
We have improved the ratio of costs to
income in our banking operations and
maintained solid effi ciency ratios in our
life insurance business. Our effi ciency
programme in the Netherlands and
Belgium is on track. Important progress
has also been made in measuring risk. We
developed methods to capture bank and
insurance risk, improved the quantifi cation
of credit risk, created more accurate pricing
of insurance products and consolidated our
risk management.
Reputation and integrity are also essential
to fi nancial services providers. As
regulation has increased, we have stepped
up our compliance. This is more important
than just adhering to a set of rules. It also
refl ects the way we want to treat our
clients and our shareholders: fairly and
with excellent performance.
However great a strategy may be, it cannot
be implemented without the right attitude
and the right people. ING invests in people
through various global projects to develop a
high performance workforce with a common
vision that inspires operational excellence.
Conclusions
We are satisfi ed with the progress we
made in 2006. By keeping a constant
and persistent course, we have created
value for our shareholders. We were
able to achieve more profi table growth,
to continue to invest in new growth
opportunities and to improve further the
execution of our business fundamentals.
We will continue our strategic course
in 2007 and build on the momentum
of profi table growth. We will continue to
analyse where we are creating value and
where we need to deploy resources for
improved growth and return. On top
of that we will continue to invest in
promising new business opportunities.
Growth can be achieved only for as long
as we properly execute our business
fundamentals. We want to continue
improving customer satisfaction,
tightening up compliance, keeping costs
under control and ensuring risk is
properly managed. By improving in these
areas, we want to drive our performance
to the next level.
As such, ING keeps focusing on creating
value for its shareholders to reward them
with a better total return on investment
than the average of that of our peers in
the fi nancial sector over the longer term.
ING Group Annual Review 2006 7