ING rides Tandem with dealer groups

TheINGgroup has launched a new dealer group, Tandem Financial Advice, completing a year long program to consolidate and reposition its financial planning businesses.

ING publicly unveiled the new dealer group yesterday after outlining plans for the new business to its network of advisers at a series of roadshows over the last few weeks.

Under the restructure, Tandem will sit alongside two of ING’s other dealer groups,RetireInvestand Millennium 3.

However ING’s three other dealer group brands -Lynx Financial Services,Partnership Planningand AustAdvisers - will disappear as part of the restructure.

ING began the process of consolidating and re-branding its dealer groups late last year, but the program was delayed after ING signed a funds management joint venture with theANZbank in April.

The head of ING Advice, Mike Goodall, says Tandem will be positioned as ING’s high-end dealer group, offering more sophisticated advice to clients of all ages.

He says RetireInvest will continue to target customers whose primary focus is obtaining advice on retirement, while Millennium 3 will target clients with a wealth accumulation focus.

“Each ING advice brand has its own target customer market, and while there is some demographic cross over, they are essentially distinct,” Goodall says.

ING, which purchased 49.9 per cent of Millennium 3 in 1999, also announced yesterday that it had acquired the remainder of the company from its principals, Daryl Foster and Barry Martin.

ING confirmed yesterday that Andrew Doquile, the former national sales and marketing manager forWealthPoint, had been hired to head up Tandem as the group’s general manager.

“Lynx, Partnership Planning and AustAdvisers were all good brands, but we needed to build a brand [through Tandem] that has a strong consumer presence,” Doquile says.

“[The Tandem name] is also a philosophical message to advisers that ING will work very closely with them and customise our business to them.”