ING Australia hints at mandate changes

ING Australia has hinted at a shake-up of the $25 billion investment mandates it has with ING Investment Management, with chief investment officer Stewart Bretnall stating they will retain mandates “in part” after they expire.

Brentnall has recently been recruited to implement an investment strategy for ING Australia, after ANZ’s acquisition of the remaining stake in the business in February.

“Historically, this business has relied quite heavily on ING Investment Management as an effective division for much of its investment strategy and planning. That is no longer sensible, or strictly, legally possible,” Brentnall said.

Brentnall flagged that ING Australia could terminate some of its $25 billion mandates with Investment Management when they expire.

“We will have the responsibility for monitoring those mandates throughout the life of those contracts and beyond to the extent that they are retained, which is certainly expected in part,” he said.

The mandates’ expiry dates are not currently available to the public, but Brentnall did say they had a “reasonable but finite period”.

Brentnall also indicated he was in discussions to take on extra “high-level” staff to assist in the areas of capital markets research and modelling, as well as investment advocacy.

A spokesperson for the company said that ING Australia’s mandates are under “ongoing review” and that ING Investment Management does not currently stand to lose all of its $25 billion investment mandates when they expire.