ING Opens First 'Direct Cafe' For Online Banking.(Brief Article)

National Underwriter Life & Health-Financial Services Edition, April, 2001 by Arnold, Catherine

Six months after announcing plans to offer high-interest savings accounts and CDs online and offer guidance, but not tellers, through "Direct Cafes" in selected mid-Atlantic cities, Wilmington, Del.-based ING Direct has quietly opened one such cafe on East 49th Street in Manhattan.

Intended to put a human face on Internet banking, according to Brian Myres, executive vice president of retail banking at ING Direct, the New York cafe sells cappuccino, cookies and offers free Internet surfing, as well as information about ING Direct's accounts.

Cybercafes are also planned for Philadelphia and Wilmington. Myres says the New York cafe is still in "soft opening" mode, and the cafes elsewhere will open later this year, probably in the fall.

The...

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