ING DIRECT Toronto contact centre recognized as one of the world's best

TORONTO, Nov. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - ING DIRECT's Toronto contact centre took top honours, earning a Gold Medal for Best Mid-Sized Contact Center at the Contact Center World Finals held earlier this month in Las Vegas, Nevada. Contact Center World is the global association for contact centre best practices.

In June 2011, the Toronto contact centre also garnered a Gold Medal in the same category at the Contact Center World North American Finals.

"It's a great honour to now be recognized globally for the outstanding service our Toronto contact centre provides to Canadians," said David Bradshaw, Vice President, Sales and Service, ING DIRECT Canada. "Our front line associates, whether they're based in Toronto, Ottawa or in our new Moncton contact centre, show true commitment to the values and culture that foster the type of customer service and experience acknowledged by this award. We're extremely proud of this achievement."

ING DIRECT's Toronto contact centre, which employs more than 200 people, was selected from over 1,000 entries submitted by companies around the world. Industry veterans judged entrants on everything from customer satisfaction scores, call response times, training programs and incentive packages provided to associates.

"This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our employees," said Peter Aceto, President and CEO, ING DIRECT. "The success of the ING DIRECT brand and business model is in part due to the innovation and unique culture of our front line team. Customers realize we're different and have something different to offer when they interact with our associates. Our vision to help Canadians achieve financial autonomy through simplification, great value and exceptional service is brought to life every day through our contact centres." 

Melanie Brooks, a Mortgage Account Manager at ING DIRECT's Toronto contact centre won a Gold Medal as Best Contact Center Sales Agent. In 2010, Brooks was ING DIRECT's top producer of mortgage sales, funding over 380 mortgage deals, which represents a 55% conversion rate, where the required benchmark is 43%. Her sales contributed 8% of total new mortgage funding to the bank.

"I'm very proud to be the recipient of this prestigious award," said Brooks. "The wonderful culture at ING DIRECT, which includes great training and development opportunities, employee recognition as well as support from the ING DIRECT leadership team, has allowed me to excel in my role in helping clients achieve their financial goals."

ING DIRECT's contact centres receive over 100,000 calls per month. All calls are answered by associates located in Canada.

The Best Mid-Size Contact Center award is one of many received by ING DIRECT contact centres, located in Toronto and Ottawa, in the past year. Others include: Contact Centre Employer of Choice (CCEOC) Gold Certification for being an employer of choice in the industry, a Silver Medal at the Contact Centre World Awards for the Americas, a Gold Medal from Contact Centre World for Best Workforce Management Professional; and the Best Contact Centre from the Ottawa Regional Contact Centre Association.

About ING DIRECT
ING DIRECT is Canada's leading direct bank with over 1.7 million Clients and more than $37.6 billion in total assets. ING DIRECT gives the power of saving to all Canadians by offering high-value, simple products such as high interest savings accounts with no fees or service charges, low rates on mortgages and a no-fee daily chequing account that actually pays interest. Low cost, index based mutual funds are sold through ING DIRECT Funds Limited. ING DIRECT has been operating in Canada since 1997 and paid more than $5 billion in interest to Clients. ING DIRECT is open for banking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at ingdirect.ca, on mobile devices at m.ingdirect.ca or by calling 1-800 ING DIRECT (1-800-464-3743).

SOURCE ING DIRECT