ING Direct Infiltrates The Brokerage Market With ShareBuilder

ING Direct brought disruptive innovation to banking — and succeeded wildly. With its acquisition of ShareBuilder at the end of last year, ING Direct added a complementary investment business to its offerings. The deal got little attention. But Forrester believes that ING Direct has the discipline to create a substantial brokerage business over the next 10 years. Product and channel managers at direct firms such as E*TRADE Financial, Scottrade, and TD Ameritrade need to keep an eye on ING Direct as it moves its young customer base into investments and establishes a brokerage business in much the same way their firms did: by climbing up from below.