Farewell to ING
Article written by Boris Bozic

I feel like that old man slowly watching his friends die off; checking every day to see if his name has made into the obituary section, realizing it hasn’t he goes about his day.

In the short time that I’ve been blogging I’ve written a few farewell blogs to lenders who are no longer with us.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we bid so long to ING in the broker channel.

Firstly, if the news that the ING brand will no longer be available in the broker channel, well, I’m surprised – anyone would be surprised.  Scotia Bank, who purchased ING Canada, is focused on franchising customers and their strategy is to enhance and grow their own brand.  So it was only a matter of time before orange would become totally red.  I guess the time is now.  The loss of any lender in our space is troublesome, on many levels. Competition has many benefits, pricing, product innovation, and credibility.  To think this announcement won’t create a dominos effect is a little naive.  Recently some lenders have announced a reduction in finder’s fee.  Why? Because they can.  That’s what happens when choices become limited.  Don’t believe me? Ask any broker in Australia.  I’m not suggesting there will be a mad rush by lenders to reduce compensation but with every announcement telling us another lender has exited the market the possibility increases.  It’s Darwin’s theory of business evolution. To continue reading, or for other articles, please click here.

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