I’ve always admired ING Direct’s focus on deposit accounts primarily sold and serviced through the Internet. While the bank has diversified into checking accounts, mortgages, and investments during the ten years since it launched, the core website look and feel is virtually unchanged (see 2001 version here). 

So I was more than a bit surprised to learn this weekend that ING Direct became the second U.S. financial institution to add Bump-powered phone-to-phone payments to its iPhone app. PayPal was first, adding the feature more than a year ago.

Bottom line: Evidently, with “high-yield savings” stuck at 1%, the giant direct bank needs to be a little more creative on the feature side to attract new business. While bump-to-pay will eventually be replaced with direct communications via NFC or other technologies, it’s a nice addition that positions ING Direct as a mobile leader.

Bump is now one of two choice on the P2P menu on ING Direct’s iPhone app (2 May 2011)

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Note: For more info on mobile banking, see our previous Online Banking Reports.