ING bets on subscription model to lift fees amid growing digital-banking competition

By Mateusz Rabiega and Jakob Van Calster

June 10 (Reuters) - ING launched a new subscription-based banking model for clients in the Netherlands on Wednesday, in a move aimed at diversifying income streams and protecting its market share.

The Dutch-based bank expects the model, which is to be rolled out across its markets by mid-2027, to deliver a "meaningful" contribution to its fee income, Global Head for Private Individuals Sali Salieski told Reuters.

Salieski said the strategy was partly driven by growing competition from digital-only neobanks. Rapidly expanding Revolut, for instance, is reportedly considering an initial public offering that could value it at up to $200 billion.

The model would replace pay-per-product banking with tiered monthly subscriptions that bundle banking, insurance and other services such as streaming into a single package.

The model has previously been rolled out in Belgium, Romania and Poland. Salieski said the rest of ING's markets, including Spain, Germany and Italy, would follow suit.

ING expects subscriptions to support continued growth of fee-based revenue, particularly by lifting income linked to everyday banking services, Salieski said.

The banking group has prioritised increasing its net fee and commission income over the past years, seeking to offset the easing earnings windfall from high interest rates post-COVID.

"I think (the subscription model) will also give more breadth across all markets, because we've had some markets which are traditionally low fee or no fee," Salieski said.

ING has been recording steady double-digit growth in fee and commission income over the past two years, which in the first quarter stood at €1.24 billion ($1.43 billion) and accounted for 21% of its total revenue.

($1 = 0.8655 euros)

(Reporting by Mateusz Rabiega and Jakob Van Calster in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)