 One of the first and most successful adopters of this was ING Direct that launched its first such bank in Canada in 1997, expanding this to the UK, Australia and the United States before its owner sold them around 2010.One of Europe's first full-service direct banks was First-e, launched by ENBA, a Dublin-based internet incubator company under the banking license of French bank, Banque d'Escompte.First launched in the United Kingdom in September 1999, it garnered appreciable attention, resulting in more such ventures all over Europe.