ING Investment Management (INGIM) Australia has boosted its wholesale business with the appointment of Mark Harper as Senior Business Development Manager for the southern region, marking the fourth hire this year for INGIM’s newly opened Melbourne office.

Mr Harper will be responsible for building relations with platforms and dealer groups by leveraging the strong relationships he has built up at the corporate level around Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.

Mr Harper joins INGIM from AXA Australia where he held the role of National Sales Manager of group life insurance. Prior to AXA, he held roles at NAB as a Senior Project Analyst and Team Leader and has experience across project management, transformation projects and managing end to end tender processes.

The appointment follows INGIM’s earlier announcements regarding its plans to expand its investment manufacturing and distribution activities in Australia via dealer groups and platforms. Mr Harper will report to
Stuart Devlin, Southern Region Manager who was hired in August this year.

Mr McKay, Head of Sales at INGIM in Australia, said the appointment of Mr Harper marked further progress for INGIM’s wholesale platform as it ramps up activity to target advisers.

“We are delighted to have someone of Mark’s broad experience appointed to the southern region and compliment Mr Devlin’s skill set. His strong business acumen and his previous experience in project management as well as identifying new business will ensure INGIM’s wholesale platform is well placed to grow from the ground up,” he said.

“This segment of the market is a key area of focus for INGIM’s strategy here in Australia. Our recent hires in both southern and northern regions all have proven track records in producing results in servicing advisers and their clients. We are already seeing strong interest by dealer groups in our recently launched Australian equities funds designed to capture alpha. New offerings are also in the pipeline for 2011 allowing INGIM to continue delivering alpha generating solutions in the competitive adviser industry,” Mr McKay concluded.

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