ING fences off funds as CFO takes charge

Paul Butler, formerly ING chief financial officer, has been named in the newly-created role as the group's director of funds management.

Friday, January 16th 2009, 7:28AM

According to an ING spokesperson, the funds management unit has been established to clearly separate it from the firm's insurance and property divisions.

An industry insider close to the ING business told Good Returns Butler's appointment was “unusual” in that he has had no direct experience as a funds manager.

An accountant, Butler joined ING in 1994 after various senior accounting and management roles at a corporate bank.

“I suppose his appointment shows where the business is headed. He [Butler] has probably been hired to sort out ING processes... there's been a lot of problems there,” the source said.

The ING spokesperson said Butler would “focus” on building the firm's fund management business, which last year came under pressure after two of its biggest retail products – the Diversified Yield Fund (DYF) and the Regular Income Fund (RIF) – hit the skids.

Late in December ING revealed it would wind up the DYF and RIF products, which had been frozen since March 2008 following the collapse of the collateralised debt obligation (CDO) market – the funds' principal investments.

According to the latest unit price, the DYF and RIF are valued at about 29 cents and 23 cents respectively.

Along with Butler's appointment it is understood ING has made a number of senior redundancies in the client services and IT teams as well as dropping at least two credit analysts from its CDO unit.

The ING spokesperson would not confirm or deny any redundancies, however, she said any further changes would be “part of business as usual”.

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