ING USA re-silos retail "wealth-management" units

FWR Staff

9 December 2008

Dutch insurance giant restructures in order to capture post-crisis business. ING USA has restructured its wealth-management business. The changes come as the unit's former CEO Kathleen Murphy gets set to join Fidelity next month as head of the fund giant's personal-investment business.

In a bid to gear up for what it sees as a flurry of new business from shell-shocked retirement savers who have been knocked around in the financial-market firestorm of the past 16 months, ING USA. has separated annuities from retirement services -- previously parts of ING USA Wealth Management -- and made them separate business units along with insurance and investments.

Work cut out

"One of the unfortunate consequences of the financial markets' steep declines has been the erosion of countless Americans' retirement savings," says Tom McInerney, head of ING's insurance business in the Americas. "As the markets eventually recover, ING will operate its businesses to help Americans re-establish their retirement savings program, create and protect reliable sources of retirement income, and ultimately, reclaim the pursuit of their retirement ambitions."

Catherine Smith, head of ING U.S. insurance business, will become CEO of U.S. Retirement Services; U.S. life-insurance chief Butch Britton will take Smith's old job; Bill Lowe, head of wholesale distribution for the wealth-management unit, will take the helm the annuity business.

A head for ING USA's investments business is still to be named.

As for Murphy, McInerney says ING is grateful for her "many valuable contributions over the years and we wish her the very best in her new pursuit." He adds that ING has "substantial management bench strength, which allows the company to immediately appoint experienced leaders who will facilitate a seamless transition to our new alignment."

ING USA is a subsidiary of ING Groep, a Dutch insurance and banking conglomerate. -FWR

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