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ING strikes business deal for planners

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By Madeleine Collins
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2 minute read

Planners likely to benefit from super fund changes within ING.

Financial planners will gain greater access to more than 400,000 members of ING's main super fund from July 1.

A personal advice function has been added to ING Australia's Employer Super's Integra Super fund to take advantage of the Government's super reforms.

This will allow planners who sell the product to negotiate a one-off fee for advice given on the member's super savings.

Planners will charge a dollar-based fee of up to $600 after tax for advice given to the fund's 415,000 members, who are employees within small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

The functionality will allow advisers to look at each individual client's needs, ING Australia Employer Super head of marketing and product Mark Pankhurst said.

"They may like to provide some information around education or asset classes or some specific seminars," Pankhurst said.

"It's a tool at the disposal of the advisers to be able to offer [to clients]."

Clients will either pay the fee directly to the planner or have the money deduced from their super account balance.

"It's really a convenient way of someone receiving financial advice," Pankhurst said.

He said the $600 cap was under review due to a positive response from advisers, who told ING that they want to charge higher fees.

"In October we'll probably raise it higher," he said.

Improvement will be made to ING's two other super funds, ING Corporate Super and ANZ Super Advantage, later this year.

From July 1, Integra Super members will have their insurance premiums deducted from their super account on a monthly basis rather than annually in arrears.

This will bring the product up to standard with ING's competitors.

Advisers will receive their commission payments monthly rather than in a lump sum at the end of the year.

Employers and their adviser will also be able to choose to have the adviser service fee charged as either a dollar-based or percentage-based measure.