Investors plan ANZ protest over frozen ING funds

About a dozen investors in two frozen ING funds will stage a protest outside their local ANZ branch in Richmond, Nelson, this lunchtime.

Organiser Paul Milsom says the investors want to mark a year since the funds were suspended.

The 12.30 to 1.30pm picket line is part of the Frozen Funds lobby group's efforts to force a recall of the products and get investors their money back.

The protesting investors are armed with placards and have even written a protest song. ING froze its Diversified Yield Fund (DYF) and its Regular Income Fund (RIF) last March because of the effects of the credit crisis. This left 8000 investors unable to access $521 million.

ANZ, which half owns ING New Zealand, had heavily promoted the funds to its customers.

Milsom and his wife Linda invested around two-thirds of their life savings into the DYF on the advice of their ANZ financial planner.

He said they had been misled about the nature of the product when they asked for a conservative, low-risk investment portfolio.

The couple were in the process of complaining to the Banking Ombudsman.

Paul Milsom said they were "absolutely, totally disgusted" with the response from ANZ so far. "The silence from ANZ as to where they stand with this has been totally deafening."

ING has offered investors the opportunity to cash out of the DYF now at 60c a unit, or to get 83c in five years' time. RIF investors have been offered 62c now or at least 86c in five years.

Last week it increased the options by offering investors the chance to split their choice. It says they can either take 25 per cent of the cash now and leave 75 per cent for later, split it 50/50, or take 75 per cent now and leave 25 per cent for later.

Milsom remains unimpressed by the options. "It's still not good enough to me. We want at least 100 per cent now."

The Commerce Commission is investigating ING and ANZ for potential breaches of the Fair Trading Act in the way they sold the funds.