ING Australia is researching the thoughts of some its key stakeholders, clients and dealer groups about the business’s future branding set to come into effect by November, an ING Australia spokesperson has said.
ANZ, which announced it would purchase the remaining 51 per cent stake in ING Australia for $1.76 billion on 25 September last year, said ING Australia would only trade under its name for about 12 months.
“ING Australia will be operating under a different name come November to represent its new ownership, however what that branding will be and whether it will incorporate ANZ is not yet known,” the spokesperson told InvestorDaily.
“We’re conducting research on the thoughts of some of our key stakeholders, clients and dealer groups in regards to the name change and future direction of the business as changing brands is a complex task and one that we’d like a broad perspective on.”
The spokesperson said no employees under ING Australia had shown any discouragement of the remaining purchase of the group by ANZ.
“ANZ has signalled that its main intention is to grow ING Australia and make its whole wealth management business a more robust one, and it’s good to have a parent company that is committed to that,” the spokesperson said.
“In the meantime, how ANZ plans to develop its wealth management business is unknown, with everything at ING Australia pretty much business as usual.”
Following the purchase of ING Australia, ANZ is now estimated to be the biggest employer of aligned financial planners among major Australian banks.
Dealer groups under the ING Australia brand include Millennium3, Financial Services Partners and RI Advice [formerly RetireInvest].
ING Australia also purchased a 37.5 per cent stake in Sentry Financial Group at the beginning of 2009.
