ANZ stands by CDO fund sales

ANZ has denied claims its financial advisory network mis-sold the two ING credit fund that were frozen last week leaving roughly 8,000 investors unable to access their money.

Thursday, March 27th 2008, 6:37AM

by David Chaplin

According to an ANZ spokesperson, the bank's salaried advisers have no product sales targets and "their remuneration is not influenced by the products that they recommend to clients".

"ANZ remains confident that it has recommended the ING Regular Income Fund and Diversified Yield Fund to clients in the appropriate manner and consistent with the documentation issued by the product provider," the spokesperson said.

However, the bank would not reveal how much was invested in the two ING credit funds through its advice channel.

Reports in the New Zealand Herald this week suggested a number of clients were seeking redress through the Banking Ombudsman after investing in the ING funds on the advice of ANZ financial planners.

Liz Brown, the Banking Ombudsman, said the complaints body is currently examining about 10 investment-related cases, which is "slightly more than normal". Brown said she could not talk about the details of any unresolved complaints but expected there would be some determinations in two to three months.

"We can only deal with investment cases if there has been mis-representation at the time of sale or if the products were not suitable to the clients," she said.

It is understood a number of disgruntled financial advisers are also concerned about how the ING credit funds were represented to them.

According to one adviser, the group is focusing on several factors including: how the credit products were described; what the CDO funds should replace in a portfolio; who the credit funds were suitable for; how much could safely be invested; and, what was the downside risk of investing in credit products.

The adviser said many financial planners aligned to ING/ANZ used allocations to the two CDO funds recommended by Morningstar/Strategi that ranged from 25% (for defensive investors) to 8% for more aggressive clients.

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