ING/ANZ relax alliance pre-nuptial

ING has completed the re-branding of its wrap services under a single name and has set its eyes on the distribution network of ANZ after opting to remove the safety nets laid out in the original joint venture between the two groups.

The changes to the joint venture agreement will lock in both parties until April 30, 2012 except under limited circumstances, and will allow the business to remain in intact upon the exit of either party.

Under the old terms of the joint venture between ING and ANZ, each party could depart with the part of the business they had originally contributed.

This required on-going duplication of parts of the business including administration, legal entities and products. These additional costs will no longer be incurred, and are estimated to deliver a future annual cost saving of up to $10 million.

“The joint venture allows ING to leverage its skills in wealth management and ANZ franchise and distribution network,” ING insurance Asia Pacific general manager Peter Smyth says.

Meanwhile, on Monday 15,000 clients were migrated from existing wrap services Ausvest and mywrap to the new PortfolioOne platform.

In a move to make the PortfolioOne platform more competitive in the market, the revamped platform includes straight-through processing, a fee aggregation structure, which enables investors to access lower fees by aggregating their investments with other related investors as well as online reporting for advisers.

ING executive director Ross Bowden has revealed PortfolioOne is also developing a term allocated pension which will be available to investors by the end of October.