The ING Group NV unit, which uses the brand ING Direct, is offering access to about 32,000 ATMs in the United States operated by Allpoint, a unit of Cardtronics Inc. that to date has served mostly community banks.
ING Direct is expanding its banking services at a time when many retail banks are emulating its flagship product: a branchless savings account with a high interest rate. Its rivals have offered better rates and more features, including ATM access.
For ING watchers, the addition of ATMs to its lineup provides more grist to an ongoing discussion about the limits of the direct banking model as practiced by the company.
In the past the Wilmington, Del., unit has resisted adding staple banking services — like ATM access — emphasizing that its core Orange Savings account was not designed to function as a customer's primary account. However, though ING Direct enjoyed phenomenal deposit growth in its early years, that growth has slowed more recently.
The Electric Orange account offers an interest rate of 3% on balances of up to $50,000, 5.05% on balances between $50,000 and $100,000, and 5.3% on balances above that.
Customers can access their funds with a debit card and pay bills through ING's Web site. The account also comes with $250 of automatic overdraft protection (which charges 12.25 interest when utilized).
Electric Orange account holders do not get a checkbook. Instead, they can initiate check payments to anyone online, which are sent by mail.
A spokeswoman for ING Bank said that Jim Kelly, its chief operating officer, was not available to comment after the deal with Allpoint was announced. Electric Orange customers have been able to use Allpoint ATMs since Dec. 6, but the deal was not announced until Thursday.
Cathy MacFarlane, who heads corporate relations for ING Bank, said in an interview Thursday that Electric Orange, and the ATM agreement, reflect the unit's maturing roster of banking products and services.
"As we grew, and the demand" for more banking products grew, "we decided to branch out," she said. Despite the array of transactional features that let people to do just about all of their banking through Electric Orange, ING says it is not trying to persuade customers one way or the other.
"We don't do encouraging," Ms. MacFarlane said. "We don't have any campaigns that are going on that say make us your primary bank." And since ING has no plans to issue checkbooks to its Electric Orange customers, "we're not for everyone," she said.
When asked whether ING recommends that potential customers maintain checking accounts at other banks — as is required for an Orange Savings account — an ING spokeswoman said its policy is to neither encourage nor discourage this.
However, Ms. MacFarlane said some people have chosen to switch over completely to Electric Orange. "We let people make up their own mind, and they've made up their mind, a lot of them, that they do want us as their primary bank."
Dan Schatt, a senior analyst for the Boston market research firm Celent LLC, said that offering a checking account — even a paperless one — "is a natural, incremental step" for ING Direct.
As the unit grows, "the next step is, if you want to get more of the customers' business, you need to get that DDA account," he said.
