ING Belgium intends to close 62 branches in the course of 2021, the bank announced on Tuesday, which noted that its customers’ appetite for digital channels continues to grow.
“These are agencies for which a limited number of interactions with customers has been recorded, even before the introduction of measures to fight against the coronavirus”, underlines ING.
Employees affected by the closures will be offered another job within ING, “no job loss related to these measures is expected”, assures the bank.
ING still has 552 branches in Belgium. This is not the first time that the bank has cut its branch network. The entire banking sector has done the same in recent years, sometimes citing the rise of online banking and sometimes the need to reduce costs.
Banking on tablets or mobile phones is steadily growing in popularity and the coronavirus pandemic has only accelerated this trend. According to ING, its global mobile platform recorded eight million visits from Belgian customers per week in the first nine months of the year, 23% more than in the same period of 2019. In addition, “access From the advice of experts, available remotely and digitally, since its launch, it has benefited from a high customer satisfaction rate, ”the bank continues.
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