Banking Ombudsman to tell select committee about ING complaints

Liz Brown

Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown has been asked to give testimony on her experience with ING's frozen credit funds to Parliament's commerce select committee.

Brown, who has negotiated her way through more than 150 complaints made about ING's Diversified Yield Fund and Regular Income Fund and the ANZ bank, will appear on Thursday.

Act MP and committee member John Boscawen asked Brown to attend to help raise awareness of the funds and to gain support for two separate private members' bills he and committee chairwoman Labour MP Lianne Dalziel are proposing to nullify the waiver agreement investors had to sign to get the money offered through ING's settlement.

More than 95 per cent of the 13,000 plus investors signed the offer which stops them from making claims or taking or benefiting from legal action on the funds. It has the potential to stop investors from accepting any compensation if the Commerce Commission decides to take a case against ING or ANZ.

The commission has been investigating whether the two funds were mis-sold since December last year.

Dalziel said she wanted Brown to speak to enable the committee to hear the facts of the situation without the emotional content that an investor would bring.

The committee would also discuss whether it would hear information from other parties including investors, financial advisers, ING and ANZ.

Boscawen said he hoped to raise awareness of the situation particularly for ANZ investors who still had until the end of the month to lodge a complaint with the ombudsman even if they have signed the agreement.

Of the 2700 investors who were advised by the ANZ around 450 have complained although only 150 cases have been resolved.

Boscawen has also asked ANZ to extend the deadline until the end of August.

Gerard Prinsen, an investor and spokesman for the Frozen Funds Group, welcomed the political action. Prinsen said he would be meeting the Labour and Act parties this week and also hoped to meet the Maori Party to gain support for a bill.

Prinsen said he also hoped to get the National Party on side to try to push through a Government bill which would have more chance of succeeding than a private members bill.

"But if National won't come on board, we would be happy with a private members bill."

Commerce Minister Simon Power has previously said he will wait for the Commerce Commission investigation to be completed.

The ING funds were frozen in March last year with more than $500 million of investors' money locked in.

Those who have signed the ING offer will have units in the funds bought off them for 60c per Diversified Yield Fund unit and 62c per Regular Income Fund unit and are expected to get their money by August 28.