ING GSO to expand PHL shared services business

ING GLOBAL SERVICES and Operations, Inc. (ING GSO) will expand its shared services operations in the Philippines as it seeks to ride on the continuous growth of the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

The ING GSO Center in Manila will migrate its operations to a much larger office location within the month to cater to more in- house processing from ING Bank N.V.

“The office expansion demonstrates our stronger commitment to the Philippine BPO sector,” ING Business Shared Services Country Manager Cess Ovelgonne said.

According to ING, the local BPO industry was poised to earn as much as $40 billion and employ two million workers by 2020.

The Information Technology and Business Processing Association of the Philippines had said in October 2016 that they expect the BPO sector to continue expanding in the next six years, earning up to as much as $38.9 billion in revenue by 2022.

“Our decision to expand our presence in this country is a testament to Filipino professionals’ world- class service and significant contribution to ING’s operational excellence,” Mr. Ovelgonne said.

In 2013, ING opened the ING GSO to offer its processing ser-

vices for lending, reconciliation and payments, and static data management services to accommodate some of ING’s wholesale banking branches in Asia, particularly in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan.

Currently, ING GSO’s other shared services centers are located in Slovakia and IT centers in Romania and Poland.

“This expansion is a significant move to further harmonize services and shared technology throughout the bank, ultimately enhancing ING clients’ experiences globally,” ING Global Chief Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer Roel Louwhoff said.

Asked which sector would grow fastest in the country, ING Manila Branch Country Manager and Managing Director Consuelo D. Garcia said although the Philippine BPO and overseas Filipino worker (OFW) sector contribute much to the country’s economy, gross domestic product is still largely consumer-driven.

“BPO of course and the OFWs are both the strongest pillars of the Philippine economy, they contribute about 15-20% of GDP ( gross domestic product), but the growth will continue to be consumption- driven... that will drive the Philippine economy. We expect the GDP growth of about 6.5% this year,” Ms. Garcia said.

The Philippine economy grew by 6.8% in 2016, the fastest rate in three years, on the back of a surge in investments and strong consumption.

The country’s first quarter GDP growth was at 6.4%, well below the government’s projected 7% growth and slower from the 6.6% in the previous quarter and from the 6.9% registered in the same period last year.

In a separate statement, ING announced on Tuesday that Rob Connel was appointed as its new Chief Economist and Head of Research in Asia Pacific, effective July 1. He was previously ING’s Chief International Economist.