DealHorizon - the faster, easier way to create and share business plans

I had the great pleasure this morning of watching a rebellious CEO captivate an audience of 200 executives from the financial services industry.

The rebel was Arkadi Kuhlman, Chairman, President and CEO of ING DIRECT USA - one of the fastest-growing banks in the US, and one of the few financial institutions to maintain a sensible lending strategy during the subprime frenzy.

Known for his penchant for Harleys and cowboy boots, Arkadi appears as someone who could easily have done the opposite and dived right headlong into risk. But his words - and the slight frown he wears while talking - reveal a focused intelligence that is contrary to his dress code, and a dedication to long-term execution of a business plan he obviously has much faith in.

He answers carefully and without regard for the sensibilities of his audience. He does not care whose feelings he is hurting. He is interested in building a better financial services model. And he explained how he went about this today with care.

Upon deciding he wanted to start ING Direct, Kuhlman made a point of not studying banks, but looking at other businesses instead. "The last thing person I wanted to talk to during this process was another banker", he said.

The model with which he identified the most was the food services industry. Like banking, it is a low-margin, high-volume business. Like banking, the struggle to acquire customers is never one, nor is the struggle to retain them. And like banking, knowing your customer is critical - you need to decide if you're serving truffles or discount bulk watermelon.

Kuhlman decided he needed to listen to consumers and simplify aspects of banking. He listened to consumers and got rid of fees. He stayed true to the older model of requiring 20% down when funding a mortgage (and as a result has had less than 15 foreclosures out of 100,000 mortgages written for a total of 35 billion dollars in value).

Kuhlman decided to, in his words, "stop grovelling to the richest 30% of Americans" and offer a single rate fo deposits. When customers complained about the lack of written monthly statements or preferred rates, he told them to leave - from his office in the call center, where he would spend most of his time.

I can't do justice to everything Kuhlman spoke about this morning, so instead of trying to list it all here, I'd advise you to read "The Orange Code" - or better still, catch him live at a speaking event.

His interview this morning was one of the better conference events I have attended - and I've attended a lot.