David Kan
ING has enhanced the investment choice on its OneAnswer platform menu with the addition of three new funds.
The financial services organisation has included the ING Protected Growth Fund, the ING Global Property Securities Fund, and the Merrill Lynch Asset Allocation Alpha Fund to the existing offerings on the OneAnswer product.
ING head of personal investment products David Kan said: “The ING Protected Growth Fund has some unique features as it is a capital protected product on platform, with daily liquidity, unit pricing and no lock-in period. It will be the only fund of this type on platform in Australia.
“This is the sort of fund that’s really suitable for people transitioning into retirement or are in retirement and are concerned about loss of capital, or for risk averse investors more generally who want a bit of participation in the upside from growth while at the same time limiting the downside,” he added.
The fund offers 85 per cent protection of the client’s original investment, which rises with increases in the value of the investment but does not drop if the fund price declines to a lower level.
The capital protection facility is provided by ING Bank, with 70 to 75 per cent of the fund’s assets to be invested in the ING Managed Growth Fund and the remainder allocated to cash holdings.
The ING Global Property Securities Fund is managed by ING Clarion and provides access to global property securities as an additional instrument for diversification.
“The fund is diversified across sectors and across geographies and provides exposure to capital growth as well as income”, Kan explained.
The Merrill Lynch Asset Allocation Alpha Fund targets a return for investors of the bank bill rate plus 12 per cent by investing in all of the major asset classes as well as currencies and commodities via derivatives.
ING has also added the option to automatically rebalance investment funds to match model portfolios or personal benchmarks to help achieve the long-term strategies of clients. If this option is selected the onus on advisers to regularly review and re-weight portfolios will be reduced.
