Expanded Sales Structure, New Faces Match ING Fixed Annuities' Strong Growth and Commitment to Making Financial Services Easier

ING Fixed Annuities business recently expanded and refined its national distribution organization, introducing an expanded regional structure, and adding two new regional vice presidents and a new national accounts function, according to Chad Tope, senior vice president, ING Fixed Annuities.

The expanded regional distribution structure establishes five new regions, with each led by a regional vice president who will work with all ING Fixed Annuities distribution partners, from higher volume national marketing organizations (NMO) through moderate or limited volume partners in those regions. To further focus resources, each regional vice president will have a designated internal wholesaler assigned to support the region's marketing partners, distributors and annuity clients.

According to Tope, the regions are arranged to ensure balance and facilitate ease of personal service and contact, and each of the five regional vice presidents will reside in their region, centrally located to the customer base. Additionally, the new structure establishes a national account sales role that will focus on facilitating ING Fixed Annuities sales and service with national scale organizations.

"ING Fixed Annuities sales have grown steadily since ING introduced the Secure Index Family of fixed index annuity products in October 2005. This new, refined organization allows ING to easily accommodate continued sales growth and ensures our partners and their clients benefit from an even more focused approach to supporting their needs," explained Tope. Tope also noted that the expanded distribution structure reflects ING's commitment across all its businesses to make things easier for customers, a theme reflected in ING's ongoing national brand campaign.

ING Fixed Annuities adds Bond, Higgins -- Carney fills national accounts role

With the expansion to five distinct geographic regions, two veteran annuity wholesalers have joined ING's Fixed Annuity distribution team. Nick Bond has been named regional vice president for the new nine-state Southeast Region, and Dennis Higgins has joined ING as regional vice president for the new fourteen-state Northeast Region, which includes Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and the Atlantic seaboard states.

Bond joins ING from Ann Arbor Annuity Exchange, and he is relocating to the Southeast in the near future. Higgins comes to ING from Old Mutual. Other regional vice presidents for ING's Fixed Annuity distribution business include Todd Kloewer, North Central Region; Charlie Gipple, Western Region; and Stan Schroeder, South Central Region.

Cary Carney has been named vice president of national accounts for ING Fixed Annuities distribution. In this role, Carney will work with those organizations that have a national wholesale structure in place to distribute ING annuity products nationally. The agencies within each national account will continue to be supported at a local level by the five regional vice presidents.

ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to more than 60 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50 countries. With a diverse workforce of over 115,000 people, ING comprises a broad spectrum of prominent companies that increasingly serve their clients under the ING brand.

In the U.S., the ING family of companies offer a comprehensive array of financial services to retail and institutional clients which include life insurance, retirement plans, mutual funds, managed accounts, alternative investments, direct banking, institutional investment management, annuities, employee benefits, financial planning, and reinsurance. ING holds top-tier rankings in key U.S. markets and serves over 14 million customers across the nation. For more information, visit www.ing.com

SOURCE: ING U.S. Financial Services

CONTACT: Chuck Eudy of ING US Financial Services, +1-770-980-5209, or
mobile, +1-770-490-6420, or chuck.eudy@us.ing.com

Web site: http://www.ing.com/