Bedbrook sets sail
Well known industry figure Mercantile Mutual funds management general manager Paul Bed-brook has left the fund manager to take on a new role within the ING Group.
Well known industry figure Mercantile Mutual funds management general manager Paul Bed-brook has left the fund manager to take on a new role within the ING Group.
Bedbrook will relocate to Canada and head up the operations of ING Direct within that market as chief executive officer. He will be replaced by Ross Bowden, previously executive director of Mercantile Mutual subsidiary and master trust and wrap account service providers, Australian Portfolio Managers.
The ING Direct operations in Canada are similar to those recently rolled out in Australia by the Dutch banking and investment group and uses telemarketing and Internet strategies to sell non-advice savings and mortgage products.
Bedbrook's move within the group is one of a dozen from the ranks of Mercantile Mutual into the greater body of the ING group, according to corporate communications manager Stephen Sinclair.
So far Paul Scully, Chris Nordby, Phil Shirriff and John Wylie have all been picked up by the parent company for jobs across the globe.
Scully is currently based in Asia as head of the group's investments in that area, while Shirriff is involved with financial planning within the region.
Nordby has been picked up as a business development manager with the international funds management arm in Japan while Wylie is working for the group's life insurance section in Po-land.
Michel van Elk is the most notable in the reverse traffic heading into Mercantile Mutual having come out from the Netherlands to fill Scully's role as investment management general manager.
Bowden has also worked with RetireInvest for ten years until 1998 and was previously with MLC.
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