ING Direct eyes bank-aligned advice channels

Speaking to ifa, ING Direct head of third party distribution Mark Woolnough said some of the bigger institutional organisations have been “very open and responsive”.

While he was under “no illusions” about the battle it would be to get on institutional APLs, Mr Woolnough said progress had been made with a big dealer group under “one of the well-known brands”.

“Some of their key advisers have been provided with a blanket waiver [to use Living Super] for 12 months,” he said.

Getting on institutional dealer groups is a matter of creating a sufficient amount of ‘bottom up’ demand from advisers, Mr Woolnough added.

Living Super now has just under $1.3 billion in funds under management (FUM) across its five investment options.

The balanced option, ‘Smart’, accounts for 48 per cent of the total FUM and recently received a ‘recommended’ rating from Lonsec.

The Smart option has an asset allocation of 50 per cent cash alongside a share portfolio managed by State Street, comprising 30 per cent Australian equities, 10 per cent international equities and 10 per cent hedged international equities.

Advisers can also use the ‘Select’ option which allows them to pick and choose managed investments, and the ‘Shares’ option that provides access to ASX 200 shares and 42 ETFs.

ING Direct is also in the process of rolling out an adviser portal that will give advisers the same access as their Living Super clients.