With the transition of ING employees to Scotia, many have found employment elsewhere in the industry, despite a goal for 100 per cent placement within the major lender, says the former head of broker sales with ING, Kim Luxton.
With the transition of ING employees to Scotia, many have found employment elsewhere in the industry, despite a goal for 100 per cent placement within the major lender, says the former head of broker sales with ING, Kim Luxton.
“We worked closely with human resources, setting up interviews. Obviously our goal is 100 per cent placement within Scotia,” says Luxton, now ING’s National Sales Director, “but many of the people who didn’t stay with Scotia have gone elsewhere in the industry. This has been done with absolute dignity.”
The transition of ING employees into Scotia has been surprisingly smooth, says Luxton, who has been with ING for four-and-a-half years and has been at the epicentre of the transitional process.
“I have heard nothing but good things from brokers. Scotia has been a great support, and a lot of our employees have found employment throughout Scotia,” she says. “One Regional Sales Manager with ING has taken on a Branch Manager position with Scotia.”
When ING officially left the broker channel on February 15, Scotia focused on the broker channel, leaving ING the direct channel. For both brokers and clients, says Luxton, the migration of clients had to be done seamlessly.
“It was our job to make sure there were no hiccups,” Luxton told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “We (ING) only stopped taking applications five weeks ago, and really those who had never dealt with Scotia in the past were only a small percentage.”
Luxton points out that a lot of the former ING brokers are finding it easy to sell under the Scotia brand.
“Canadians understand, they trust the banks, they know them, they trust them,” she says. “It is easier to close a deal with the Scotia brand – like it was with the ING brand. Many are finding there are a lot of similarities between Scotia and ING.”
