Restructure uncovers ING retrenchments

Over the past month, ING Australia has retrenched close to 100 people, following an overall reorganisation of the business.

According to ING spokesperson Steven Sinclair of the final number, 37 managers were retrenched Monday last week, while two weeks earlier, ING had retrenched 60 people.

“ING Australia has finalised the current reorganising program which has involved centralising a number of functions and integrating a number of areas. It has included the retrenchment of 11 business development managers,” Sinclair says.

The retrenchments are the result of the structural reorganisation of ING Australia, a process that has been underway over the past two months.

The reorganisation has included rebranding the former Adviser Management Group to become the Distribution Management Group, as well as the division of the group along a number of organisational lines.

These include national distribution, equity distribution, sales, distribution business development and the newly created distribution business solutions.

At the same time, ING Investment Management (INGIM) small cap equities team was poached by BT Funds Management (BTFM), but ING has stressed their departure was not related to the restructure or the retrenchments.

The two members of the team, Ben Griffiths and Brian Eley, will join ex-AMP head of equities Marcus Fanning at the offices of BTFM in January next year, where they will be responsible for some $400 million in dedicated small company money.

With these latest departures, ING has lost six senior staff members in its Australian equities team within the past three years, and INGIM chief investment officer Geoff Martin passionately disputes there is a culture problem within ING.

“We have really good processes and training and in some ways it is flattering that people want our people because we do produce good staff. But we have lost people for a variety of reasons. One guy died unfortunately and David Paradice left to do his own thing,” he says.

ING has been quick in its moves to fill the vacant positions. Michael Courtney, currently an industrial analyst, has been promoted from within to be a portfolio manager in the small caps equity team and there are plans to recruit outside the company for the other role.