ING Australia has looked offshore to replace present chief executive Paul Bedbrook.
Bedbrook, who announced his resignation in December, will depart Australia next month for a post with ING’s Asian operations.
He will be replaced by American-born Harry Stout.
Stout is currently ING head of wealth management market segments based in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the ING Global Management Council.
The announcement of Bedbrook’s replacement comes as ING rolls out a $50 million transformation program to boost the company’s efficiency and service levels.
The two-year program, Refresh, is Bedbrook’s last major initiative before he begins his role as a regional chief executive within ING Insurance Asia-Pacific.
As part of the new program ING established a new customer solutions business unit to focus on customer service and project execution.
The new business unit will be headed by a new ING chief operating officer Fred Bertram.
Bertram was previously the managing director of ANZ Bank’s operations technology and shared services division, based in Bangalore, India. He joins ING Australia on March 26.
Yesterday ING recorded a profit of $314 million for the year ending December 31, an increase of 22 per cent on its 2006 figures.
The company’s core operating profit was up 37 per cent to $271 million, Bedbrook said.
Company inflows rose by 34 per cent to $156 million. The main drivers of growth were ING’s flagship OneAnswer investment platform and continuing strong insurance sales.
“We are particularly pleased with the improvement in funds management net flows which grew by 35 per cent to $2.8 billion. On the distribution front, we continued to expand our aligned adviser network to over 1500 advisers by organic growth and through the acquisition of the Mawsons and Financial Services Partners (FSP) dealer groups,” he said.
ING’s adviser network comprises Millennium 3, RetireInvest, FSP, Tandem Financial Advice and ING Financial Planning.
