Value of ING inquiry queried

An adviser has questioned the point of an investigation by the Commerce Commission into ING's frozen funds because investors will have to decide whether to sign away their rights to potential compensation before it is completed.

The commission began investigating ING's Regular Income Fund and Diversified Yield Fund in December - nine months after ING stopped more than 13,000 investors from taking their money out.

Yesterday the commission said its investigation into the promotion, marketing and sale of the ING funds would not be completed for at least six months and if it decided to take legal action it could be up to three years before there was any result.

Investors have until July 13 to accept a settlement proposal put forward by ING to buy the units from them for 60c a DYF unit and 62c an RIF unit with the option of either taking the cash up front or keeping it in an ANZ on-call account with an interest rate of 8.3 per cent over five years.

But to accept they must also sign a release agreement waiving their rights to make claims or take and benefit from any future legal action.

Michael Beuvink, one of a number of advisers who have called for ING to repay investors their money in full through a product recall, said it would be too late for investors by the time the commission made any finding.

"It's seven months since they began investigating and another six till they come up with anything - by that time the horse has bolted."

Gerard Prinsen, an investor in the Frozen Funds Group, said he was not surprised by the extended timeframe for the investigation.

"Really what they are saying is 'investors, don't bank on us'."

But he believed the fact that it was taking longer was a good sign because it showed the commission could "be on to something".

Graham Gill, Auckland fair trading manager for the Commerce Commission said it was still uncertain whether any compensation would be pursued for investors who did not accept the offer or if compensation would even be awarded by the courts if the case resulted in a conviction.