The Commerce Commission has made a call on whether to prosecute ANZ National Bank over its promotion of failed ING funds but it won't be revealed for another month.The commission says discussions with ANZ need to be wrapped up before the decision can be m
The Commerce Commission has made a call on whether to prosecute ANZ National Bank over its promotion of failed ING funds but it won’t be revealed for another month.
The commission says discussions with ANZ need to be wrapped up before the decision can be made public.
Last month, Commerce Commission chairman Mark Berry told Parliament’s Commerce Committee that its investigation had been delayed until mid April, two weeks later than planned.
He said a clash of regulatory priorities were the reason for the hold-up, which was widely criticised for leaving investors in limbo.
The Commerce Commission is investigating whether the sale of two ING funds, heavily promoted by ANZ, breached the Fair Trading Act.
The two funds, ING's diversified Yield Fund, and the Regular Income Fund, were advertised as low or moderate risk, but contained investments in complex collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).
ING froze them in March 2008 as the financial crisis began to bite. At their peak they were worth $850 million.
About 14,000 disgruntled ING investors lost the right to benefit from any legal action and claims by taking up an offer that saw 60% of their frozen funds returned.
