The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that everyone from Apple to privately backed start-ups is turning their attention to banking, and the Big Six banks are paying attention to the challenge. The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that Canadian banks have been tested and caught flat-footed before. ING Direct and its no-fee chequing accounts launched here in 1997, amassing 1.8 million customers. Sixteen years later, they ended the threat when Bank of Nova Scotia acquired it -- although that took $3.1-billion. Financial institutions have long partnered with other companies, such as Davis + Henderson, for physical cheque processing and NCR for ATMs. Disruption can appear to happen so quickly it seems as though companies are blindsided. That is misleading. Because the banks are so attuned to the threat, they have the chance to follow quickly. Do not be overintimidated by the upstarts' target clientele, either. Millennials are often made out to be some special breed that plays by new rules. Throughout all the technological change associated with millennials, one of the few constants has been who they bank with. As much as Canadians love to hate their banks, they also secretly love them.