The Economist profiles Germany's third-biggest retail bank, which has no branches, but is highly profitable. ING-DiBa, an online bank owned by ING, the Netherlands’ biggest lender, looks after €133bn ($154bn) of deposits for over 8 million customers. ING-DiBa’s lack of branches keeps costs down, allowing it to resist charging for current accounts and offer savers a tad more than rivals, despite a recent cut; and it has won a name for good service in a country not renowned for it.

While the bank makes a case for branchless banking, the CFO, Koos Timmermans is not certain about what servicing SMEs will look like. “The jury is still out on whether we will accomplish the same on the SME side” as in basic retail banking, Timmermans said.