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ING Groep N.V. competitors
and the alternatives

Last updated Oct 20, 2026 · 8 peers · 46 sources cited

Who are ING Groep N.V.'s competitors, and what are the alternatives?

ING serves nearly 41 million customers in 10 retail markets and more than 100 wholesale markets, and its 2025 Form 20-F names its home rivals directly: 'Our largest market is the Netherlands, where our main competitors are ABN AMRO Bank and Rabobank.' ABN AMRO, which bought NIBC in November 2025, says its Dutch mortgage share rose to 19%. Abroad, the 20-F says competition is most pronounced in the Netherlands, Belgium, the rest of Western Europe and Australia: in Belgium ING meets BNP Paribas Fortis; in Germany, Deutsche Bank, whose Personal Banking business leads the market with around 18 million clients; in Spain and Poland, Santander, which lists ING first among its Spanish peers and on its Polish list; in Australia, Commonwealth Bank. In wholesale banking it competes with BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank for European corporates. The non-bank rivals are named by type in ING's own filing: 'Digital banks are competing for retail customers with user-friendly platforms and low fees, while private lenders - including big tech companies - are taking a growing share of business lending', and 'digital tokens and stablecoins are reshaping payment systems'. That points to bunq and Revolut in retail, Adyen in Amsterdam payments, and Circle in stablecoins, where ING joined eight other European banks in September 2025 to form a euro stablecoin company.[1][2][3][4][5]

Data as of Oct 20, 2026 · ING profile updated Oct 13, 2026 · computed tables recalculate from the 140 bank profiles on this site · Markdown

In its own words

What does ING say about its competition?

ING Groep N.V. Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2025 (filed 26 February 2026), "Competition": "There is substantial competition in the countries in which we do business for the types of Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, Business Banking and other products and services we provide. In recent years, competition has further increased in both developed and emerging markets. Our largest market is the Netherlands, where our main competitors are ABN AMRO Bank and Rabobank."[1]

The same section continues: "Traditional banks are no longer the sole providers of financial services. Digital innovation and AI-driven low-cost models are driving competition from fintechs, non-bank lenders, and technology companies. Digital banks are competing for retail customers with user-friendly platforms and low fees, while private lenders – including big tech companies – are taking a growing share of business lending. At the same time, innovations such as digital tokens and stablecoins are reshaping payment systems, moving them beyond traditional banking channels." It adds that "banking products and services have mostly become commodified" and that "Winners will be those with a strong trusted brand and a superior digital experience".[1]

The risk factors locate the pressure: "Such competition is most pronounced in our more mature markets of the Netherlands, Belgium, the rest of Western Europe and Australia." They warn that "Competitive dynamics continue to evolve as a result of platform-based players and fintechs, regulatory changes affecting payments and data access, and accelerated cloud-native operating models, which may intensify price and service-level pressure across retail and wholesale", and that new entrants "may rely on new technologies, advanced data and analytic tools, lower cost to serve, less extensive oversight from regulators compared to the frameworks established in respect of traditional banks and/or faster processes to challenge traditional banks."[1]

By business line

Who competes with ING in each of its businesses?

Business lineCompetitorTypeWhy it competes
Home market: the NetherlandsABN AMROBankING's 2025 20-F names ABN AMRO as one of its two main Dutch competitors; ABN AMRO bought domestic lender NIBC for about EUR 960 million in November 2025 and said its Dutch mortgage share rose to 19%.[1][2]
Home market: the NetherlandsRabobankBankING's 2025 20-F names Rabobank as one of its two main competitors in the Netherlands, its largest market.[1]
Home market: the NetherlandsbunqFintechAmsterdam-based bunq is a Dutch bank supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank with 20 million users across more than 30 European markets (September 2025), the kind of low-fee digital bank ING's 20-F says is competing for retail customers.[6][7][1]
Retail banking abroad: Belgium, Germany, Spain, Poland, AustraliaBNP Paribas FortisBankING's 20-F says competition is most pronounced in the Netherlands and Belgium; BNP Paribas Fortis is BNP Paribas's Belgian bank, and BNP's Nickel and Floa also operate in Belgium.[1][8]
Retail banking abroad: Belgium, Germany, Spain, Poland, AustraliaDeutsche Bank (Postbank)BankDeutsche Bank's Personal Banking leads the German market with around 18 million clients through Deutsche Bank and Postbank, and its 20-F names 'new international banks entering the German market' among its rivals; ING reports a Retail Germany segment.[3][1]
Retail banking abroad: Belgium, Germany, Spain, Poland, AustraliaSantanderBankSantander's 2025 report lists ING first among its key peers in Spain and also on its Polish peer list, the two markets where they meet most directly.[4]
Retail banking abroad: Belgium, Germany, Spain, Poland, AustraliaBBVABankBBVA, CaixaBank and Santander held about 68.5% of Spanish loans and 65.6% of deposits at September 2025, and BBVA sits with ING on Santander's list of key Spanish peers.[4]
Retail banking abroad: Belgium, Germany, Spain, Poland, AustraliaCommonwealth Bank of AustraliaBankING's 20-F names Australia among the mature markets where competition is most pronounced; Commonwealth Bank reported A$1,452,456 million of total assets at 30 June 2026.[1][9]
Retail banking abroad: Belgium, Germany, Spain, Poland, AustraliaRevolutFintechRevolut's EU bank has been directly supervised by the ECB as a significant institution since 1 January 2024, serving customers across ING's euro-area markets; ING's 20-F says digital banks compete with 'user-friendly platforms and low fees'.[10][1]
Wholesale Banking: lending, payments and cash management, tradeBNP ParibasBankBNP Paribas claims number one in Europe for cash management for large corporates, trade finance and factoring (2025 Universal Registration Document); ING sells payments and cash management and trade and treasury services to corporates in more than 100 wholesale markets.[8][1]
Wholesale Banking: lending, payments and cash management, tradeDeutsche BankBankDeutsche Bank's Corporate Bank sells cash management, trade finance and lending to European corporates and cites a 'No. 1 Best Trade Finance Bank' award (2025 Form 20-F).[3]
Payments: acquiring and stablecoinsAdyenPayments companyAdyen, also headquartered in Amsterdam, processed EUR 803.8 billion of payments in the first half of 2026; ING's 20-F names platform-based players among the forces intensifying price pressure in payments.[11][1]
Payments: acquiring and stablecoinsCircleFintechING's 20-F says stablecoins are 'reshaping payment systems'; Circle had $73.3 billion of USDC in circulation in the second quarter of 2026, while euro stablecoins totalled about $620 million when ING and eight other banks formed a euro stablecoin company in September 2025.[1][12][5]
AI offerings compared

How do the AI and digital offerings of ING's competitors compare?

ING first, then each competitor. Use-case counts, index scores and latest moves are computed from our profiles of each company; "No profile" means this site has no page on it yet.

CompanyAI or digital offeringOn the record (our profiles)Latest dated AI move
ING Groep N.V. (this page)Central AI platform on Google Cloud (VISTA data layer) and the AI Risk Committee[1][13][14]Index 65.2 (#53); 16 use cases, 10 in productionCEO at the BofA conference: 600 AI staff, Google as main partner (Sep 23, 2026)[13][15]
ABN AMRONot disclosedNo profileNot disclosed
RabobankNot disclosedNo profileNot disclosed
bunqFinn, a multi-agent assistant on Claude that handles about 97% of support activity[16]6 use cases, 6 in productionOCC denies the bunq US Bank charter (Aug 4, 2026)[17][18]
BNP Paribas FortisHelloïZ assistant for more than one million Hello bank! clients[19]Index 72 (#43); 20 use cases, 12 in productionFive-year Google Cloud partnership for agentic AI (Sep 24, 2026)[20][21]
Deutsche Bank (Postbank)Private Bank targets more than 80% of inbound inquiries AI-assisted by 2028[22]Index 78.9 (#22); 17 use cases, 10 in productionFarsight deployed on-premise in investment banking and capital markets (Oct 13, 2026)[23]
SantanderAI access for all 185,000 employees; more than 280 process-automation agents in production[24]Index 71.3 (#46); 19 use cases, 11 in productionSantander AI Lab releases the A2K protocol suite (Sep 23, 2026)[25]
BBVAChatGPT Enterprise for all 120,000 employees; voice agents resolving close to 90% of interactions in pilots[26][27]Index 77.2 (#27); 19 use cases, 12 in productionFirst European bank to join the Poppy agent protocol (Oct 13, 2026)[28]
Commonwealth Bank of AustraliaVirtual messaging resolving 86% of conversations end to end[29]Index 88.2 (#7); 20 use cases, 16 in productionAGM: Comyn calls for AI regulation to keep pace (Oct 14, 2026)[30][31]
RevolutAIR assistant for everyday money tasks (April 2026)[32]7 use cases, 5 in productionOCC grants conditional approval for a US national bank charter (Sep 3, 2026)[33][34]
BNP ParibasGemini agents for corporate credit memos in CIB[20]Index 72 (#43); 20 use cases, 12 in productionFive-year Google Cloud partnership for agentic AI (Sep 24, 2026)[20][21]
Deutsche BankCorporate Bank targets 100% AI-enabled core processing by 2028[35]Index 78.9 (#22); 17 use cases, 10 in productionFarsight deployed on-premise in investment banking and capital markets (Oct 13, 2026)[23]
AdyenAdyen Agentic for agent-initiated commerce (June 2026)[36]7 use cases, 4 in productionAdyen Index Singapore: 'The agentic paradox' (Sep 23, 2026)[37]
CircleCircle Agent Stack: policy-controlled USDC wallets for AI agents (May 2026)[38]7 use cases, 6 in productionChainalysis counts 138 million agent payments on Base (Oct 14, 2026)[39]
Alternatives

Who should look beyond ING, and where?

If you areLook atWhy
Dutch customers who want an app-only bank with a built-in AI assistantbunqbunq is a Dutch bank supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank with 20 million users in more than 30 markets, and its Finn assistant handles about 97% of support activity; ING's own chatbot handled 75% of chats without a human in 2025.[6][16][40]
Dutch customers who prefer a cooperative bank or a domestic rivalRabobank or ABN AMROING's 20-F names ABN AMRO and Rabobank as its main competitors in the Netherlands; ABN AMRO reported a 19% Dutch mortgage share after buying NIBC.[1][2]
Merchants that want one global acquirer rather than a bankAdyenAmsterdam-based Adyen processed EUR 803.8 billion in the first half of 2026 and launched Adyen Agentic in June 2026; ING's 20-F names platform-based players as a source of price pressure in payments.[11][36][1]
German customers who want a full-service branch bankDeutsche Bank or PostbankDeutsche Bank's Personal Banking leads the German market with around 18 million clients, with Deutsche Bank as the Hausbank for advice and Postbank for everyday banking; ING launched Instant Mortgages in Germany with a binding credit decision in under 30 minutes.[3][41]
Small businesses and individuals that mainly need cross-border transfers and multi-currency accountsWiseWise sells cross-border accounts directly and says in its 20-F that 'Our primary competitors are traditional banks'; ING's 20-F says AI-driven low-cost models are driving competition from fintechs.[42][1]
Customers in Spain who want a branch networkSantander or BBVASantander, BBVA and CaixaBank held about 68.5% of Spanish loans and 65.6% of deposits at September 2025, and Santander lists ING first among its Spanish peers; Santander's 20-F says online banks have increased competition mainly for deposits.[4]
Where ING competes

Who does ING compete with in each of its markets?

Rivals named in ING's own 20-F, or naming ING in theirs; facts as each source reports them.

MarketNamed rivalsWhat the record saysSource basis
NetherlandsABN AMRO, Rabobank; bunqING's largest market; ABN AMRO at 19% of Dutch mortgages after buying NIBCING 20-F; Reuters, November 2025[1][2]
BelgiumBNP Paribas FortisCompetition 'most pronounced' in the Netherlands and BelgiumING 20-F; BNP URD[1][8]
GermanyDeutsche Bank and PostbankDeutsche leads with around 18 million Personal Banking clientsDeutsche Bank 20-F[3]
Spain and PolandSantander (and BBVA in Spain)Santander lists ING first among Spanish peers and on its Polish listSantander 20-F[4]
AustraliaCommonwealth BankA mature market where ING says competition is most pronouncedING 20-F; CBA annual report[1][9]
Euro paymentsAdyen; US-dollar stablecoins such as Circle's USDCEuro stablecoins about $620 million against nearly $300 billion of global issuance (September 2025)Reuters; Circle Q2 2026[5][12]
ING's answer to digital rivals

How is ING responding to the digital banks and payment firms it names as rivals?

ING's 20-F argues that with banking products 'mostly commodified', the winners will have 'a strong trusted brand and a superior digital experience'. Its AI programme targets exactly the cost-to-serve gap with digital banks: chatbots live in seven countries handling 75% of chats without a human in 2025, 81.8% of retail customer journeys handled without manual intervention at year-end 2025, 65% instant credit decisions on Dutch consumer loans, and about 1,250 fewer Operations FTEs expected in 2026.[1][40]

On payments, ING is building alongside rivals rather than only against them. It was one of nine European banks that formed an Amsterdam-based company in September 2025 to launch a euro stablecoin in the second half of 2026, 'a real European alternative to the U.S.-dominated stablecoin market'; it ran agentic-payment pilots with Worldline, Mastercard and Visa in mid-2026; and it co-authored six-bank principles asking for audit trails and dispute processes for agent-initiated payments.[5][43][44][45]

Common questions

Who are ING's biggest competitors?

ING's 2025 20-F names ABN AMRO and Rabobank as its main competitors in the Netherlands, its largest market. Abroad it meets BNP Paribas Fortis in Belgium, Deutsche Bank and Postbank in Germany, Santander and BBVA in Spain, Santander and others in Poland, and Commonwealth Bank in Australia, plus digital banks such as bunq and Revolut.[1][3][4][6]

ING vs ABN AMRO: how do they compete?

They are two of the Netherlands' main banks, and ING's 20-F names ABN AMRO with Rabobank as its main Dutch competitors. ABN AMRO bought NIBC for about EUR 960 million in November 2025 and said its Dutch mortgage market share rose to 19%. ABN AMRO does not have a page on this site.[1][2]

Is bunq a competitor of ING?

Yes, in Dutch and European retail banking. bunq is a Dutch bank supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank with 20 million users across more than 30 European markets, and its Finn assistant handles about 97% of support activity. ING's 20-F says digital banks compete for retail customers with user-friendly platforms and low fees.[6][16][1]

Does ING compete with Santander?

Yes, in Spain and Poland. Santander's 2025 report lists ING first among its key peers in Spain, alongside Bankinter, BBVA, CaixaBank, Sabadell and Unicaja, and includes ING in its Polish peer list. On this site's AI reference score Santander is at 71.3 and ING at 65.2.[4]

Are stablecoins a competitor to ING?

ING's 20-F says 'digital tokens and stablecoins are reshaping payment systems, moving them beyond traditional banking channels'. Circle had $73.3 billion of USDC in circulation in the second quarter of 2026; ING joined eight other European banks in September 2025 to form a company to issue a euro stablecoin.[1][12][5]

What are alternatives to ING in Germany?

Deutsche Bank, whose Personal Banking business leads the German market with around 18 million clients through the Deutsche Bank and Postbank brands, and app banks such as N26 and Revolut. ING, which reports a Retail Germany segment, launched Instant Mortgages there with a binding credit decision in under 30 minutes.[3][46][41]

Is Revolut a competitor of ING?

Yes, in euro-area retail banking. Revolut's EU bank has been directly supervised by the ECB as a significant institution since 1 January 2024 and launched its AIR assistant in April 2026. ING's 20-F says digital banks are 'competing for retail customers with user-friendly platforms and low fees', and that AI-driven low-cost models are driving competition from fintechs.[10][32][1]

Does big tech compete with ING?

ING's 2025 20-F says so for business lending: 'private lenders – including big tech companies – are taking a growing share of business lending'. It also names technology companies among the sources of AI-driven, low-cost competition, alongside fintechs and non-bank lenders, without naming specific firms. Google is, at the same time, ING's main AI technology partner.[1][13]

ING vs Commonwealth Bank in Australia: how do they compare?

ING's 20-F lists Australia among the mature markets where competition is most pronounced. Commonwealth Bank is far larger at home, with A$1,452,456 million of total assets at 30 June 2026, and on AI it reports 86% of virtual-messaging conversations resolved end to end; ING runs a GenAI chatbot in Australia among its seven chatbot countries.[1][9][29][40]

Who competes with ING in wholesale banking?

The European corporate banks it meets in more than 100 wholesale markets, including BNP Paribas, which claims number one in Europe for cash management for large corporates and trade finance, and Deutsche Bank, whose Corporate Bank sells the same services. ING's 20-F adds that private lenders, including big tech companies, are taking a growing share of business lending.[8][3][1]

Peers on this site
BNP Paribas AI strategy →How BNP Paribas SA compares with its peers →Banco Santander AI strategy →How Banco Santander compares with its peers →Deutsche Bank AI strategy →How Deutsche Bank compares with its peers →BBVA AI strategy →How BBVA compares with its peers →Societe Generale AI strategy →How Société Générale compares with its peers →NatWest AI strategy →How NatWest Group plc compares with its peers →Lloyds Banking Group AI strategy →How Lloyds Banking Group compares with its peers →CommBank AI strategy →How Commonwealth Bank of Australia compares with its peers →
Competitor pages on this site
bunq AI strategy →BNP Paribas AI strategy →Competitors of that bank →Deutsche Bank AI strategy →Competitors of that bank →Banco Santander AI strategy →Competitors of that bank →BBVA AI strategy →Competitors of that bank →CommBank AI strategy →Competitors of that bank →Revolut AI strategy →BNP Paribas AI strategy →Competitors of that bank →Deutsche Bank AI strategy →Competitors of that bank →Adyen AI strategy →Circle Internet Group AI strategy →
Deeper on ING
ING AI strategy: the full profile →How ING Groep N.V. compares with its peers on AI →ING vs peers on AI →BNP Paribas competitors →Santander competitors →bunq →Bank AI index →AI disclosure index: the largest US banks ranked →Which banks lead in AI, topic by topic →
Sources
  1. ING Groep N.V. Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
    ING Groep N.V. (SEC filing) · Feb 26, 2026
  2. Dutch bank ABN Amro buys domestic peer NIBC for $1.1 billion
    Reuters · Nov 12, 2025
  3. Deutsche Bank Annual Report 2025 on Form 20-F
    Deutsche Bank AG (SEC filings) · Mar 12, 2026
  4. Banco Santander, S.A. Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2025 (official peer group by country)
    Banco Santander, S.A. (SEC filing) · Feb 27, 2026
  5. European banks to launch euro stablecoin in bid to counter US dominance
    Reuters · Sep 25, 2025
  6. bunq reaches 20 million users as it marks its 10th anniversary
    bunq · Sep 9, 2025
  7. Fine for bunq B.V. for insufficient customer due diligence
    De Nederlandsche Bank · Aug 25, 2025
  8. 2025 Universal Registration Document and Annual Financial Report
    BNP Paribas · Mar 19, 2026
  9. 2026 Annual Report
    Commonwealth Bank of Australia · Aug 12, 2026
  10. Significance Assessment: 2023 at a glance – moving to 2024
    European Central Bank, Banking Supervision · Dec 21, 2023
  11. Adyen publishes H1 2026 financial results
    Adyen · Aug 13, 2026
  12. Circle Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
    Circle · Aug 5, 2026
  13. ING at Bank of America 31th Annual Financials CEO Conference: growth lifts targets
    Investing.com · Sep 23, 2026
  14. Interview: How ING reaps benefits of centralising AI (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-05)
    Computer Weekly · Oct 5, 2026
  15. ING Group Raises 2027 ROE Target Above 16% as Revenue, AI Drive Growth
    MarketBeat via Yahoo Finance · Sep 25, 2026
  16. How bunq handles 97% of support with Amazon Bedrock
    Amazon Web Services (co-authored with bunq) · Jan 21, 2026
  17. Corporate Decision #1384: Denial of application to charter bunq US Bank, National Association
    Office of the Comptroller of the Currency · Aug 4, 2026
  18. Bunq rejected for OCC bank charter
    Banking Dive · Aug 10, 2026
  19. BNP Paribas and Mistral AI extend their partnership to support the next phase of generative AI deployment within the Group
    BNP Paribas · May 26, 2026
  20. BNP Paribas and Google Cloud Announce New Partnership on Agentic AI and Cloud Innovation
    BNP Paribas · Sep 24, 2026
  21. BNP Paribas forges agentic AI partnership with Google Cloud
    Finextra · Sep 25, 2026
  22. Investor Deep Dive 2025: Private Bank presentation (Claudio de Sanctis)
    Deutsche Bank · Nov 17, 2025
  23. Deutsche Bank Deploys Farsight On-Premise Across Investment Banking and Capital Markets in Europe and the Americas
    Farsight (GlobeNewswire via Yahoo Finance) · Oct 13, 2026
  24. Santander turns its AI-first strategy into measurable impact and extends AI access to all 185,000 employees
    Banco Santander · Jun 22, 2026
  25. A2K: a new protocol suite for connecting AI agents to governed, auditable enterprise knowledge
    Banco Santander · Sep 23, 2026
  26. BBVA and OpenAI collaborate to transform global banking
    OpenAI · Dec 12, 2025
  27. BBVA creates a model to scale AI across the Group and drive its customer-centric transformation
    BBVA · Oct 6, 2026
  28. BBVA will help design a common protocol led by Sierra AI and Meta to connect AI agents with businesses
    BBVA · Oct 13, 2026
  29. CBA 2026 Full Year Results Transcript
    Commonwealth Bank of Australia · Aug 12, 2026
  30. 2026 Commonwealth Bank AGM: CEO's address
    Commonwealth Bank of Australia · Oct 14, 2026
  31. 2026 Commonwealth Bank AGM: Chair's address
    Commonwealth Bank of Australia · Oct 14, 2026
  32. Revolut enters new era of money intelligence with launch of AI assistant
    Revolut · Apr 9, 2026
  33. Revolut Receives Conditional Approval from U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to Form a National Bank
    Revolut · Sep 3, 2026
  34. Revolut wins US charter with limits on four products
    American Banker · Sep 3, 2026
  35. Investor Deep Dive 2025: Corporate Bank presentation (Fabrizio Campelli)
    Deutsche Bank · Nov 17, 2025
  36. Adyen Announces Adyen Agentic As the Universal Translator for the Next Era of Commerce
    Adyen via PR Newswire · Jun 16, 2026
  37. Chapter 2: The agentic paradox
    Adyen · Sep 23, 2026
  38. Circle Launches AI Infrastructure to Power the Agentic Economy
    Circle · May 11, 2026
  39. AI agents are on a shopping spree: Total payments on Base blockchain eclipse 138 million, Chainalysis finds
    Fortune · Oct 14, 2026
  40. Driving value through digitalisation, scalability and (Gen)AI (Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference 2026 presentation)
    ING Groep N.V. · Mar 18, 2026
  41. ING posts 2Q2026 net result of €1,947 million, reflecting accelerated growth in customer base and customer balances
    ING Groep N.V. · Jul 30, 2026
  42. Wise Group plc Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026
    Wise Group plc via SEC EDGAR · Jun 25, 2026
  43. ING completes live end-to-end European agentic payment transaction
    Finextra · Jun 2, 2026
  44. Worldline, ING and Visa complete a live agentic payment transaction in Europe
    Worldline via GlobeNewswire · Jul 2, 2026
  45. Building Trust in Agentic Commerce: Customer-centric principles for a trusted and thriving ecosystem
    ING Group, ASB Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and NatWest Group · Sep 22, 2026
  46. N26 Delivers Over €500M Revenue and €350M Gross Profit in 2025, Hitting First Full Year of Net Profitability
    N26 · Jun 25, 2026

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