(21 March 2006 – Australia) ING Australia has posted an after tax profit of A$306 million for 2005, a 15 percent increase on the 2004 result.Funds under management grew 13 percent to A$32.8 billion, and investment and superannuation products grew 24 percent to A$6.1 billion.
However, ING said underlying operations had been impacted by the loss of concessional taxation for life insurance earnings, increased interest rates and spending on improving legacy products and systems.
“All of our key business lines – personal investments, employer superannuation, life risk, and direct insurance – have performed well in terms of sales and operational profits,” ING Australia chief executive Paul Bedbrook said.
“We maintained our strong growth momentum, simplified our operations, upgraded our product offerings, improved operational effectiveness and continued to develop a strong performance and service culture,” he said.