It has been fascinating to go through this process for the last few months. With so much to consider, of most importance to me, has been the effect this has on our employees and our customers. I have always believed that change is most often a good thing. But I’m aware that change can certainly be frightening for some.

15 years ago, ING DIRECT set out to challenge the way Canadians think about banking and show with action and advocacy the role a bank can play in society. We set out to help Canadians live better lives by providing a different way of banking that would allow us to offer great value for their hard-earned money and a level of service that had not been delivered before. We built a team and a culture that would allow this to continue day after day, month after month and year after year.

That’s the essence that makes ING DIRECT so special, and it has certainly left a mark on a great many Canadians and our impact is increasing daily. We know this because our loyal customers tell us every day – and Scotiabank knows that too. That’s why they have committed to preserving everything that our employees and customers have come to love about ING DIRECT.

I have had the opportunity to have several lengthy discussions with Scotiabank’s senior leadership who clearly indicate that ING DIRECT will operate separately, as a wholly-owned subsidiary, as we do today. Imagine, exchanging one shareholder for another – a swap, one ING Group for one Scotiabank. We will continue to deliver what Canadians have come to expect from us: excellent service, simple, transparent and innovative products, and great value. Same promise as before.

Because ING Group is a global bank, they don’t want anyone else using their name. Other than Donald Trump and Richard Branson’s Virgin name, few companies make a business out of licensing out their name. So, in 18 months our name will need to change. So will our logo. And in as much as I love the color orange, I always had another secret favourite, purple! My point is, it really doesn’t matter what our name is. Ok, it matters to some degree, but what really matters is that we understand what customers want by listening to them, that when we make promises to customers, that we deliver on them. This is what we plan to continue to do and with Scotiabank standing behind us, we think there is a great opportunity to spread the word faster among Canadians and offer a few more ‘orange’ products and features that Canadians have been asking for.

All of the ING DIRECT employees are passionate about what we have been doing for the past 15 years and the team is excited to continue driving the ‘orange’ program forward. When the sale is completed (it is subject to regulatory approvals), the ball will be in the hands of Scotiabank. They however have been quite clear that ING DIRECT won’t change a bit. You will really appreciate this advertisement to all of our customers from Scotiabank which clearly demonstrates how they would like to proceed.

It would be foolish to change a business model that has worked exceptionally well for 15 years and is particularly well suited for the way Canadians will do much of their banking in the future. We are looking forward to what we can provide our customers and our employees now and in the future, to innovate and build on our strengths, while being owned by a strong Canadian parent company that is committed to maintaining what has made ING DIRECT special.

Today is a very exciting day. It’s a day to look forward and to embark on the next chapter of a very exciting future for everyone who has come to love ING DIRECT. Change has an unfavourable reputation at times. But it shouldn’t. Change is necessary, to keep us moving, to keep us growing and to keep us inspired.

Thank you all for your support, always.

For centuries we have been intrigued by the idea of power. We see the stereotype portrayed in bestselling books and movies. And countless studies have certainly supported the belief that people in power are created equal. In fact, I just recently tweeted a fascinating infographic about the anatomy of a CEO. Apparently male CEOs are likely to be called Peter, Bob or Jack. Well, thanks mom for the foresight!

Winston Churchill said: the price of greatness is responsibility. That is what I believe is the true essence of a CEO – the responsibility to your employees, customers, community and shareholders. Yes of course, being a CEO gives you the platform to affect change, to make something happen that you otherwise didn’t have the ‘power’ to do before. But it is the responsibility that is of most value. Nothing is pre-conceived and there is in fact a long road to earning that responsibility.

On my very first day as the CEO of ING DIRECT in Canada, I decided to walk around and say hi to everyone. On that day I was wearing a pair of skull and cross bones orange cufflinks, which I thought were very cool, however the reaction I received from a particular colleague, was an eye opener. “Are you here to rape and pillage everyone?” she said. Those were her exact words. Almost five years later, we both still laugh about that encounter. I appreciated her honesty, but I quickly realized that no matter your personality, or fashion sense, people’s natural reaction to the presence of a CEO is often anxiety.

Striking fear was not the way I wanted to lead. So what became of most importance to me was building trust. And of course breaking down the stereotypes. I do not have an office nor does anyone else in our company. There are no walls and anyone can pass by and say hello. I often sit in the call center and take customer calls, I park where there is a spot available and I really enjoy having lunch with whomever is in the cafeteria.

At the office, we are all associates. We lead without titles – in fact you won’t find titles on our business cards. We have fostered a culture that mirrors who we are as a business. How we act on the outside, is exactly who we are on the inside. We are transparent, honest, and approachable and we speak in a language that people can understand. This, in my opinion, is the future of business.

A year into my new role, the fact remained that our employees did not choose me. Being appointed the CEO by a board of directors or shareholder does not make you a leader, but leading is a CEO’s primary responsibility. I wasn’t interested in the glorification of the title – I wanted to be of service and be an agent of change. With my personal values guiding me, I was prepared to leave my position if our employees weren’t inspired by my leadership. So I sent a company-wide email letting employees know that it was now their turn to choose and that I would only stay if they wanted me to. And so they voted!

It was a very important moment for our culture. It solidified my relationship with our employees and inspired me to pursue the type of leadership I believed in. I felt empowered and fueled by the confidence that I had now earned the trust of my colleagues.

Trust plays a crucial role in the success of a business. And Stephen M.R. Covey believed this. He wrote a book called Smart Trust to highlight how leading companies that have built high-trust relationships with their employees and customers, consistently outperformed non high-trust companies up to three times. It was a wonderful compliment to be included in the book, and exceptionally important that he wrote it.

The typical stereotype of a CEO will continue to make headlines. But as the world changes we need to document better examples and inspire other leaders to take themselves off the pedestals, break down the barriers and tip the scale in the other direction. Whether CEOs are born or made has little significance. It is my firm belief that you are measured by the responsibility, honesty and integrity in which you lead.

Please understand that because of various legal and regulatory requirements I am not permitted to say very much beyond what was shared in the press release issued by ING Group. I can tell you that no decisions have been made at this point. However, what remains absolutely the same is our commitment to our clients and employees.

ING DIRECT was created 16 years ago to challenge the way Canadians think about their banking, to help Canadians simplify their financial lives and to be an example of the role a bank can play in society.  We have always stood beside our clients to help them live better lives. Our employees and I are dedicated to this vision and regardless of the choices our shareholder is considering, this will not change. In the meantime, our clients will continue to receive the same great service, great products and great value they have come to expect from us.

On the road to success all businesses need to continuously evaluate where they stand as the world changes around them. The fact of the matter is that our world is constantly changing – things can be unpredictable. I have come to learn that there’s a real power in uncertainty. Although our intellect wants clarity and certainty, it is always uncertainty, change, even anxiety that are a primary source of creativity and from where new opportunities are borne.

Bill Gates once said: “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” And he’s right. You can’t get comfortable – because innovation peaks when we have the courage to let go of certainty. It is not always the strongest who win, nor the most intelligent. Those who are best able to adapt to change will win in the long run.

As the leader of ING DIRECT in Canada, my commitment to our employees and clients is that as information becomes available and I am able to share it, I certainly will. Thank you all for your support, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

If you’ve been climbing the corporate ladder, you might want to stop. Or at least re-examine your approach. With the surge of entrepreneurs and independent contractors, it’s become evident that the road to growth is no longer linear.

Businesses today are created at a much faster rate than ever before. Technology has made it easier to innovate and scale rapidly. There’s also an increase in confidence – that I’m particularly excited about – among individuals who want, even demand, and can actually create a new alternative future for themselves.

Moving down one prescribed path is an old way of thinking. In fact, the days of employees staying with one organization for an extended period of time are long gone. Today we might consider that odd or concerning. Who does that anymore? Wait, I did. Let me explain.

I began my career with ING DIRECT 16 years ago. I was in fact the 8^th employee. But in all those years, I have re-invented myself and the roles that I took multiple times. That is why I’m still here. And why many of our employees have decided to stay. We are built with an entrepreneurial mindset that remains part of our DNA 16 years later. It allows us to dream big and take risks. It’s a mindset we fight to keep as our business grows.

Taking risks is crucial. Not just for businesses, but also for individuals. Some of my proudest moments as a CEO are when I have asked our leaders at ING DIRECT to take on roles they never thought they’d succeed at, only to witness them exceed all expectations. It always seems impossible until it’s done – a profound statement by Nelson Mandela that seems to sum up the spirit of entrepreneurs, or anyone who stepped out of their comfort zone and succeeded.

We are often limited by fear. Taking risks is absolutely scary. But without the willingness to stretch, to make mistakes, we will settle for mediocrity. Sure, we might fall, but nothing will allow us to leap forward faster than failure. There is success in failure, and that is learning. I learned this lesson early during my first entrepreneurial venture when a buddy and I decided to start a summer eavestrough cleaning business. We made a ton of mistakes, a little bit of money, learned a great deal and most importantly, we had a lot of fun!

I have always enjoyed variety in my work life. I believe I have a natural entrepreneurial spirit, and I’ve been fortunate to have been able to apply it in the many roles I took on throughout my career.  Many lessons have been learned and I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts on the topic over the next few weeks in subsequent video blog postings.

Entrepreneurs choose a harder path than most. Instilling this mindset in large organizations is far from easy. But here’s the thing, the rise of entrepreneurs is a trend that’s not going away. You have to be pretty clear about how things work today. While it’s important to have specific skills, I urge and support our employees at ING DIRECT to keep adding to their toolkit, and to collect experiences. I believe in this trend, and I am inspired by the many ideas that we see on a daily basis at Network Orange, our facility in downtown Toronto that we created to support local entrepreneurs.

With an Orange culture that is fuelled by innovation, collaboration and corporate values, we feel these principles drive positive change and make a difference for individuals, communities and the world. This is why we created Network Orange where independent business people from various industries come to work on their ideas as part of a unique community. We have been able to learn, listen and be inspired by the many wonderful ideas that some very smart people create.

As you will see in the video I shared here, I recently met with the team from Raise5 who are part of the Network Orange community to learn more about how they’ve managed to connect the world through philanthropic efforts – an extremely interesting and moving startup idea that has earned them tremendous recognition.

There are many other entrepreneurs at Network Orange who have achieved great success. Some of them are:

HealthAware: created by Nikolai Bratkovski to help anyone find health professionals and book appointments online. Nikolai has made big strides in expanding his reach within subscribers and physicians who use the service.

thirdocean: created by Karim Kanji & Carolyn Van, a social media management agency that have in fact been Network Orange tenants since day one. thirdocean hosts several technology related events and seminars that have elevated their brand within the industry.

Knight Bishop & Queen: created by Emery Bishop is a marketing and web2.0 consulting company that has doubled in size since October 2011. They have in fact purchased a second office close to Network Orange and founded a nonprofit organization under the strength of KBQ’s success.

It’s never been more exciting to be an entrepreneur or to be accepted as one. There are many more wonderful ideas dreamed, created and established by those of us who believe in the possibility of investing in what we love to do. But ultimately, those among us who are determined to see things through are the ones that will set themselves apart from the rest.

This phenomenon makes me think of how often we all make decisions that fulfill immediate gratifications but may not be in our long term best interests (or maybe I’m just resentful of the extra mile I had to run this morning).

The fact is – it is hard to deny our impulses. Not just with food, but in all aspects of our lives and particularly spending. Yes, we all know that peer pressure is a factor. Many try to keep up with the Joneses, comparing homes, cars, clothes etc. But I think the darkest danger lurks deep within ourselves not our neighbours. In his new book The Wealthy Barber Returns David Chilton says: “The reference group you often need to be most wary of is not your affluent friends, or even your wealthier work colleagues; it’s you, yourself.”

We have a need for instant gratification. And it is so easy to spend. With innovative technology, retailers have much easier influence over our decisions. My super cool Starbucks app doesn’t even require that I carry a wallet! And based on our location, deals pop up on our smart phones that help to bypass all internal debates we need to have to make a thoughtful decision. It’s kind of like the “casino effect” applied to day-to-day spending. Pump up the oxygen, lose all sense of time, replace hard earned cash with chips and keep the gambling or spending going!

Impulse buying is the Achilles’ heel of the saver. It happens to the best of us. Although it might be a good excuse to blame it on technology, it really is our responsibility to control this impulse. I mean we all know how to control other impulses why can’t we conquer this one?

We tend to focus more on today than tomorrow and in some cases, that is merited. However, we often put immediate desires ahead of future important needs. There are of course plenty of triggers – we are bombarded with spending opportunities everyday. So even if we are able to have that internal debate about whether to buy or save, we are bound to give in sooner or later.

But let’s look at it like this: Do you realize that if you deny one $10 indulgence every week that you will save over $2,600 in 5 years and nearly $15,500 in 25 years? If you did this everyday – you know, skip a latte, pack a lunch or quit smoking – the $10 you’d save everyday would value over $18,900 in 5 years and over $108,000 in 25 years. You can actually retire a few years earlier!

Although this is all true we seldom look at it that way, but we should. And apparently, Canadians would actually change their habits, with a little help. In a new survey we commissioned at ING DIRECT, 52% of Canadians said that if they could better visualize what foregoing their daily, weekly and monthly spending on non-essential purchases would save them over the short and long term, they would in fact change their spending habits.

Based on these findings and our leadership in using technology to simplify the banking experience, we decided to create something to help Canadians do exactly that, and live better, happier lives. We added a new free feature to our leading mobile application called “Small Sacrifices” to help consumers visualize how foregoing everyday indulgences and sending them directly to their savings account can lead to big savings over the long term.

It can be especially hard to save for things that are far off, like retirement. We tell ourselves we can always start doing it tomorrow. But once we visualize how small purchases add up over time, we are more aware of the decisions, and small sacrifices, we need to make on a daily basis. It’s like putting pictures of our goals on our refrigerators.

We are faced with hundreds of choices everyday. And I strongly believe that visualizing these daily decisions, and how they affect the future, is the best approach to conquer the urge to spend.  Happy saving and good luck!

I don’t know about you, but I love underdog stories! In movies, in sports, and in business – there is nothing more exciting than to see the small guy taking on the big guy – and winning. That’s what gives an underdog its power, from the stories of David vs. Goliath to Leonidas’ 300, to the Kings’ recent win, and perhaps Microsoft vs. Apple, there is an unbeatable sense of drive that fuels underdogs.

It’s an energy that no one else can see but you can certainly feel, and it’s electric. Underdogs overcome great odds through passion and determination. I wondered for a long time where that passion stems from – could it be about having something to prove?

Growing up, I had a difficult relationship with my father, which led to having a strong desire to prove myself, to be successful. I became a lawyer in a big downtown firm, worked 6-7 days a week, 14-15 hours a day and was not treated particularly well. When I was told that I would not be hired back to continue with the firm, I felt a gigantic sense of disappointment. Perhaps those experiences have become big advantages. Perhaps they led me to push that much harder and to create my own path.

Arkadi Kuhlmann, the founder of ING DIRECT had a philosophy for hiring the right people. He talks about it in his book, The Orange Code. The candidates with the perfect resumes, credentials or schools, while impressive, at times lacked the intangibles he deemed essential. He wanted those with significant disappointments in their lives, those with scars, dents and blemishes, because he believed that those tough life experiences made them hungry. Perhaps that’s what he saw when he decided to take a chance on me 16 years ago.

It doesn’t matter why or how someone becomes an underdog. What matters is that underdogs always, always have a chance to win! In fact, adapting an underdog mentality works to our advantage at ING DIRECT. We automatically feel it on a psychological level. It makes us move faster, try harder and think smarter. It’s powerful and it’s the stuff that makes things happen and allows us to replicate success.

There is a great deal of value in the connection we make with underdogs. Every villain has a hero and clearly we all want the hero to win. Think Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

ING DIRECT was founded to challenge the banking industry, to re-construct the process, the product and to educate consumers about making smarter choices regarding their hard earned money. Arkadi said it best “You can’t be an outlier unless you want to actually turn the tables upside down.” For 15 years, we have done exactly that. By remaining entrepreneurial and hungry, we’ve been able to find success among the giants of our industry – established businesses with significant resources and budgets, 150 years of history and oodles of market share. We love the challenge of the underdog.

But growth and success have their dangers. There’s a grain of truth in one of Andrew Grove’s famous quotations, “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.” Paranoia might be a little excessive, but we do need to be alert. Complacency is a big risk.

My job as the leader of ING DIRECT in Canada is to maintain the underdog mentality we started with 16 years ago, after significant milestones, more than 1000 employees and a consistent growth in market share. We simply can’t take our feet off the gas once something great has been created. But how do we maintain that electric energy that underdogs have?

Yes, we celebrate the wins – we pat ourselves on the back. But then we move on, quickly – as there is so much work still to be done. We stay nimble. We commit to persistent and positive change. We make more ideas happen. We remind ourselves of our humble beginnings. We expect team members to challenge our thinking. And we support a corporate culture of urgency.

Underdogs simply try harder. Underdogs challenge the conventional wisdom, break the rules, disrupt the status quo, and make a dent in society. Underdogs do in fact, prevail.

Is it Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Philanthropy, Corporate Giving? How many fancy names do we have for simply ‘helping people out’?

Our world is inundated with corporate talk and buzzwords – we seem to have lost the essence of what “giving” is really about. In fact, CSR has become a strategy used by businesses more because they “should”, to enhance their brand, gain market share, and build their competitive advantage. But wouldn’t that also be the result if we were authentically motivated to give? You know, the kind of giving my young kids are learning in school. The kind our parents taught most of us.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m thrilled to see an increasing number of companies adopt ways to enhance the wellbeing of others. After all, the role of business in society is much more than creating “shareholder value”. Businesses and their leaders need to remember the simple concept of being a good neighbour. Businesses don’t stand alone – we are part of an eco system, a community. We take from the community so we must give back to it. I like how Mr. Einstein put it when he said, “It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it” – It is also every business’ obligation.

We’ve always believed in the importance of accountability at ING DIRECT. Not just to shareholders, but to everyone – our clients, our employees, the public and our regulators. Our focus on accountability means we need to make sure that everything we do fits with our purpose, which is to help Canadians live better lives. Sure, as a business we need to be profitable, but we also care about the difference we are making in people’s lives. The motivation to help is part of our DNA, it is our foundation, and that is what makes it easy for us to be exceptionally responsible.

Of course, we are required to publically share information about our efforts, and I find it tremendously rewarding to report on all of the great community work our team has accomplished. You will find our Statement of Public Accountability and Corporate Responsibility here. And if you read through it, you’ll see all the ways in which we have been active in Canada and each community where we live, work and service our wonderful clients.

What you might not see in the document, is the impact that our efforts have on what I believe is our most vital stakeholder group – our employees. The opinion of our employees matters a great deal to me. We spend more time at work today than ever before and we want our work to make a positive difference in the world.

As the leader of ING DIRECT in Canada, my focus has been on allowing our employees to direct the majority of our giving efforts. They decide where our resources will be allocated and who they would like to help with our time and money – because in my experience, people give 100% of their energy when they care or maybe 60% when they don’t.

Most of our over 1000 employees volunteer their time toward the causes they believe in and we as an organization back them up. Our team insists that we get out in our communities, roll up our sleeves, and pitch in. We also get our clients involved. Through social media, we have been able to engage our customers for ideas on where they feel we should be contributing.

It means a lot to us to be able to invest our time and financial support in causes that we collectively believe in. This approach has generated a great source of pride, trust and engagement among our employees. They get a sense of fulfillment from their work, a purpose as well as an organization whose values match their own. Having a stellar and authentic corporate reputation externally is crucial. So is having it internally.

Giving or CSR, if we’re going to use a term for it, is not a feel-good public relations goal or marketing strategy. It’s not about aligning your brand to the right cause either. It is a commitment an organization makes to be responsible members of the community.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, it’s not like my parents sat my brother and I down and had the money talk either. But there was a clear message in our household. I grew up with a hard work ethic that I learned from my father who was an entrepreneur. Making money wasn’t easy and spending on anything outside of the necessities was considered a special occasion. Don’t get me wrong, we did have our special occasions too. But, we were taught to be appreciative and grateful. Those are the talks and lessons that shaped our values and principles.

Times have changed, and my three children certainly have a different experience than I did. This is why it’s more important than ever to have an open discussion about money. Straight talk about where money comes from, how best to save it and how to be smart about spending it are some of the topics we chat about in our home. Luckily, my wife and I both share similar values that help us in how we raise our kids.

The fact of the matter is, the level of spending among Canadians is high, and advertisers target us in far more advanced ways than ever before. It has become so easy to spend, and the ability to window shop from our couches have desensitized us. Who knows how much more advanced we can become in reaching consumers, and particularly young children. And so, teaching kids about money at a young age becomes crucial in the development of lifelong, healthy financial habits.

We started talking to our children about money at age five. And the reality is we didn’t have a set plan as to how and when we will have “the talk”. We would easily fall in the 61 percent who feel they could be doing more to educate their kids about the basics of saving and spending. The catalyst to having the conversation is more than 50 percent of the time, a request to spend. Apps on iTunes alone provide my wife and I with 3 to 4 opportunities a week to explain the value of money.

Children are not born with money sense. They learn by example and experience. And we as parents are in the best position to provide them with opportunities to see how money is used, spent, saved and shared with those in need. But here’s the thing, “the talk” doesn’t have to be complicated. A typical conversation I will have with my now 6 year old son goes like this: Saving is good. Everything you don’t spend you save. The less you spend the more you save. Simple!

In addition, with the savings accounts we have set up for our children, they can see how interest grows, and I will tell you, a $2-5 increase over time gets them very excited! We also discuss the difference between spending on little things versus saving for something big. This is a conscious effort for us as a family, because we believe in building a foundation, a set of values that clarify the difference between needs and wants, and saving and spending.

But even with the best intentions, I realize parents can’t do it alone. 72 percent in fact consider online educational games useful in informing kids about personal finance. This is why we at ING DIRECT developed an interactive resource to guide parents and children in this discussion and enrich the learning experience about money matters. Lilsavers.ca takes kids through activities and games to teach them all about money – how to create a budget, set savings goals, invest and give to charity. Hey, mom or dad might learn a little something too!

Robin Taub, author of “A Parent’s Guide to Raising Money-Smart Kids” said it well: kids who are taught about money management at home, feel more optimistic and confident about their financial futures. I also like Robin’s approach to keeping things simple. Look for her quick tips to raising money-smart kids here.

Parents have an opportunity to define a set of values that will sustain future financial wellbeing for their children. The bottom line is, more innovative ways to lure us into spending will constantly evolve. What remains constant are the lessons our parents instil in us that shape how we make decisions about our lives, and in this case about money.

From a cultural perspective, we can all agree that cafés act as anchors in our communities. We all know where the nearest Tim Hortons or Starbucks or other specialty cafés are. They serve as places for social interaction; to talk, write, read, connect, or pass the time.

And cafés have evolved. The way Starbucks sees it, cafés are the third place between work and home. I would imagine that with the rise of the entrepreneurial culture, that cafés are actually where people are spending time conducting their work. We certainly see that in our own cafés.

So what does coffee have to do with banking?

When ING DIRECT was first launched in 1997, we set out to create a true mainstream alternative for banking. We built a model where Canadians’ savings can grow without being eroded by fees and we proved that our model works. We thrive on being the underdog and challenging the Financial Services industry. We don’t believe in selling and we don’t believe in branches. We believe that conversations about money shouldn’t be complicated; they should be as easy as enjoying a cup of coffee with friends.

We asked ourselves, what could we do to change things?

We decided to give Savers a place to go where they can be heard and understood. Cafés are places that break down the barriers between people and their money, helping Canadians make their own financial decisions, without lineups, tellers or pens or ropes. They are not typical brick-and-mortar bank branches. Selling is not on the menu, but financial nourishment and being a good neighbour is.

Our first ING DIRECT Café opened its doors to the public in the summer of 1997 in Toronto. Although Clients could reach us 24/7 online and on the phone, they visited our Toronto Café because they wanted to see what we were all about. The second Café opened in Vancouver in October of 1998, followed by Montréal in November 2002, and Calgary in May of 2006.

And in 2011, we decided to open our 5th Café in downtown Toronto, located in a fully restored and renovated three floor heritage building. It’s a unique, community-oriented space in the heart of downtown Toronto, where we have explored new ways to challenge the conventions of banking and have stayed close to the pulse of the city. The three-floor, open-concept space supports our forward banking vision by providing an innovative approach to banking. It features free WiFi; a high tech co-working space that provides access to videoconferencing and webinar systems for small business owners to conduct their day-to-day work; a free meeting space for community groups and use of iPads to conduct banking transactions online.

The downtown Toronto Café has truly become an integral part of the Toronto community. We have always believed that everything we do must fit with our purpose, which is to help Canadians live better lives. I am tremendously proud of what we have been able to accomplish in the space. Over 161,000 people have visited the Café since its opening in April 2011. It didn’t stop there, though. Café staff also got out and got involved in the community, giving back and making a difference through volunteering. We have also hosted numerous community events dedicated to enriching our city in our free community meeting space and we are thrilled when we can showcase local retailers who live the same values we do – a program we call the Café’s Friends of Savers.

I try to spend as much time as possible at the Cafés; because the energy of customers conducting their everyday banking and entrepreneurs working away at their start-up ideas is truly inspiring. Not to mention the excellent coffee, which we’ve named ‘Savers Blend’! The simplicity of walking in, buying a cup of coffee and talking about money or anything else going on that day, is what banking should be about. It’s that trace of magic that cafés create in building snippets of community.

Brands take time to grow. So when your business is successful, why make changes? It’s simple – you can’t manage your business the same way forever. Change is very important. Consumers are changing, their preferences evolve and often quickly. If you’re not adapting, you will become irrelevant to consumers and your existing customers.

Today’s consumers want to deal with companies that are evolving and innovative. That’s because their behaviour has fundamentally changed. They don’t go to record stores anymore, they’re shopping online and buying books in the cloud. And as Don Tapscott puts it, consumers are becoming prosumers, engaging and expecting more from businesses.

Modifying your brand is not about revamping a logo. It’s about evolving your relationship with your customers. To have them think of you in a different way, you need to act differently. Consumers form a perception of you based on their interactions with you. Good, bad or great. It could be their best or worst experience or the sum of all of their experiences with your business. So, changing how people think of your business is no easy task. It means you have to change for the better. And if you don’t walk your talk you are in very big trouble!

It’s been 15 years since ING DIRECT entered the banking industry in Canada. When we started in 1997, our vision was to help Canadians save more of their money and get control of their financial lives. Frederik de Groot, the Dutch actor who became our spokesperson, built a strong emotional connection with Canadians when in a series of television ads he told us to “Save your money”. He essentially told Canadians that they have a real choice.

We started with just a simple savings account that paid a higher interest rate and charged no fees. But we’ve grown – a lot. 15 years ago, I was the 8th employee to join the company, which by the way no one had ever heard of, including my mother. Now, ING DIRECT is the country’s largest direct bank and Canada’s 7th largest bank by individual deposits with nearly two million customers and more of what Canadians need to do their everyday banking.

But many people still think of us as a “savings” bank. That’s not a bad thing. But our business has evolved. When people think of ING DIRECT now, we want them to think of us as a place to do their banking, not just a place to save their money.

15 years ago, we also set out to challenge the banking industry. And we see that despite all of the progress in consumer behaviour, the banking industry has not moved as quickly. Most banks conduct much of their business in branches and charge fees wherever possible. There is a better way to bank in this country, and we want Canadians to know it.

So, we’ve changed some of our communications and marketing to help Canadians understand what we’re really all about today, and where we think consumers want the banking industry to be. We call it “forward banking”. You’ll see it in all of our advertising, but most importantly you will experience it during your interactions with us.

Leaders need to be willing to be brave, bold and challenge the status quo. Your brand can do the same. The magic however remains in maintaining the emotional connection you build with your customers by relentlessly delivering on your promise to them. In our case this means award winning service, simple and transparent products and all around great value for our customers’ hard earned money. This is our promise to Canadians and this will never change.

Today is a very exciting day for us at ING DIRECT and for Canadians. I am very proud of the achievements of our team at ING DIRECT in Canada – innovation, advocating for Canadians, and being a wonderful member of the community. Although we are embarking on great change today, what remains the same as it has always been over the past 15 years is our belief that – we are just getting started!