TheANZ Bank will look to double its adviser sales force to over 600 within three years, after it was confirmed that its in-house financial planners would not be included in the group’s joint venture with ING.
The joint venture deal, finalised last week after months of negotiations, will create the fourth largest retail manager in Australia — behind the Commonwealth Bank, the National Australia Bank and AMP — with $26.7 billion of retail funds under management.
And both groups announced ambitious plans to treble the flow of funds coming from ANZ distribution channels, such as bank branches, by 2005 by boosting the sale of new products manufactured by the joint venture.
But ANZ said last week that its in-house financial planners would not join the joint venture, to be called ING Australia, to avoid “conflicts of interest” with ING’s network of independent dealer groups, which have been incorporated into the joint venture.
ANZ chief executive John McFarlane says the ANZ planners will instead remain close to the bank, where they will concentrate on improving their lead generation through the bank’s branch network.
ING Australia will also create a specific division, ANZ Distribution Development, to develop strategies for boosting the sale of products from the new venture through the ANZ branch network.
John Wylie, who has been managing director of the ING businesses included in the deal since early 2001, will head the joint venture.
ANZ revealed last week that it would pay ING $960 million for its 49 per cent stake in the joint venture.
