ANZ moves away from managed funds

ANZ has changed the way it runs its advisory business since the ING Diversified Yield and Regular Income funds were frozen.

Friday, June 25th 2010, 7:36AM

John Body, who heads the bank's advisory business says it has moved away from a managed funds model and now use one which is based on direct investments.

He says it is a centrally managed portfolio model with clear risk profiles.

The bank has 25 investment specialists who use this model for clients with more than $250,000.

It also has 10 wealth advisers who deal with clients below this level. These advisers, he says, use managed funds.

This move away from managed funds seems at odds with the bank moving to full ownership of ING. Body says ANZ still believes in managed funds and says this part of the business will "grow alongside KiwiSaver."

Body says ANZ have acknowledged there were failings with the CDO products and that they didn't peform.

He says from the viewpoint of ANZ advisers the issue was more a diversification and asset allocation issue.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Commission has released more information about how ANZ and ING managed the CDO-backed funds.

The regulator's investigation was critical of ING's risk assessment of the Diversified Yield Fund, saying the "known risks associated with CDOs were discussed internally by ING at a senior level and between the directors of ING (NZ) Admin and ING senior staff, but despite issues raised, the DYF was approved for sale."

In a rebuttal from ING, published on the Commerce Commission website with the investigation summary, said "a robust level of debate in relation to the investor material for a new fund is indicative of internal processes that are appropriate, not problematic. All of the issues raised were dealt with, and the DYF offer documents were ultimately signed off by both ING and the trustee."

The regulator's investigation took a dim view of ANZ's Private Banking for high net wealth individuals and redeeming some $8 million of its clients' funds, while at the same time saying it was not in a position to withdraw the bulk of its other customers' cash from them.

ANZ responded that its private banking unit operated under a different model to its advisory unit.

"ANZN does accept that some of the advice provided by some of its advisers may not have been of an appropriate standard," though both the bank and ING did not accept that features of the fund, particularly around the degree of risk, were misrepresented.

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