ING may cancel test with advertisements based on payment behavior

ING Bank is no longer sure whether it will continue with the test, in which users would receive advertisements based on payment behaviour. The idea sparked a storm of criticism last week, including at CBP and the market authority for banks.

The bank first wants to consult with critics of the plan and therefore postpones the trial for the time being. It is not yet clear whether the bank will ever hold the test, says CEO Nick Jue in a letter to customers. “We will determine in consultation with customers, regulators, privacy organizations and consumer organizations whether and how we will proceed. Whether we will conduct a trial with a select group of customers who are interested in this, when and under what conditions, we will only determine after these conversations.”

In the letter, ING Bank mainly seems to want to rectify the image that the bank would like to share personal data of customers with advertising companies. “ING does not share your customer data with third parties, let alone that we would sell it. For ING, protecting the personal data of our customers has the highest priority.”

The storm of criticism arose after ING Bank published the plan for the trial through an article in the Financieele Dagblad. From that article with the headline ‘ING gives advertiser insight into customer behaviour’, many people inferred that the bank would like to sell personal data and targeted advertisements. Various authorities turned out to be critical of the bank’s test.

Mockup from parody article of what targeted advertising based on payment behavior would look like. Illustration: The Correspondent