ING Asia fund CEO expects robust growth

HONG KONG (Reuters) - ING Groep NV's (ING.AS) Asia Pacific fund arm expects further double-digit growth over the next 3 to 5 years, driven by sales of products tailored to its 13 markets in the region, its top executive said on Tuesday.

The division of the Dutch financial service group also is interested in additional acquisitions in those markets, added Christopher Ryan, chief executive of ING Investment Management Asia Pacific, which manages more than $100 billion.

"Having the broad footprint, and being local -- local funds for local people -- is what's critical in this phase of growth," he told the Reuters Wealth Management Summit in Hong Kong.

ING's Asia Pacific fund arm operates in Japan, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, New Zealand and Dubai.

In June it announced it would buy South Korean asset manager Landmark Investment Management, beefing up its existing fund operations there. Last year it also agreed to buy ABN AMRO's AAH.AS domestic asset management business in Taiwan.

"We consider that we're in the right markets for ING (ING.N) at the moment, so we would be very interested in appropriate acquisitions in the markets that we're in," he said.

"Assets under management actually isn't what's important (in potential acquisitions). It's the business mix and the strength of the distribution."

The Hong Kong-based executive said the firm would be most keen to buy in a market where it is not yet in the top 5, but could get there via an acquisition.

"We want to be in the top five in each country that we're in. That's our longer-term objective. We think that's the way you've got to play," he said.

GEARED TO ASIAN GROWTH

Ryan, who was formerly with HSBC and Deutsche Asset management, said the firm had also looked at entering Indonesia and Vietnam, but didn't feel that for ING "at the moment, we can make a sufficient business case to enter."

The fund executive said the division expected to continue the pattern of double-digit growth in new assets and revenues it had seen since the start of the decade.

The firm operates in the high growth mainland Chinese market through its 33.3 percent stake in Shenzhen-based China Merchants Fund.

But Ryan said smaller growth markets such as Malaysia and Thailand would also help drive results.

"These are markets that a lot of people have ignored, but they're good markets for ING," he said.

"The story for early next year, or next year, is going to be markets like the Philippines which the world has not taken hold of for a long time."

In terms of products, the Australian executive said it was looking to provide investors with assets correlated to Asia's booming economic growth. He said Asian local currency bonds, resources and Asian real estate were likely to be its big themes in 2008.

"We already have a local currency bond fund, but watch that space because we'll have more product. It'll be into next year that we'll have more products in that space," he said.