ING will pay pension payments to affected ING Mortgage and Income Plus fund investors

ING Custodians (ING) today announced that investors with pension accounts linked to the ING Mortgage and Income Plus Funds on ING OneAnswer, ING Allocated Annuities and ANZ OneAnswer will receive pension payments despite the current suspension of these Funds.

Ross Bowden, Executive Director Wealth Management, ING Australia said: “The interests of all our investors is of paramount importance to us. We have been particularly concerned for our pension members who rely heavily on receiving regular pension payments. It has been our priority to find a solution through this complex issue, to minimise the impact on affected pension members and to find a way to continue to make pension payments.”

ING Funds Management suspended the ING Mortgage and Income Plus funds on 24 October 2008 to protect the interests of investors as a result of the large increase in redemptions received following the Federal Government’s bank deposit guarantee.

“This has been a difficult time for our investors, for advisers, fund managers and the industry as a whole. ING has also been concerned by the impact of the suspension policy for investors experiencing financial hardship. Given some investors are suffering financial hardship, we welcome the ASIC proposal to modify the operation of provisions of the Corporations Act so that fund operators such as ING can now work with ASIC to provide some relief to eligible investors,” Mr Bowden said.

The affected Funds are long established and well managed with a strong history of consistently delivering good returns to investors. The underlying assets are high quality, well performing mortgages with an average loan to value ratio of approximately 55 per cent.

The Funds are well managed by a team of highly experienced mortgage and investment professionals and will continue to pay distributions to all investors. The Funds continue to be regulated through ASIC under the Corporations Act.

ING remains committed to working through the many complicated issues related to the current mortgage fund issue, so that the best possible solutions can be found for all of ING’s investors.