Press Release

Pick your financial advisors blog ING launches www.pickuradvisor.com.hk

To keep up with the blogging trend, ING has recently launched a "Pick Your Financial Advisors Blog" at www.pickuradvisor.com.hk, and is one of the market-first companies in Hong Kong to provide an online presence for its top financial advisors. Through this brand new communication platform, those seeking financial advice can interact online with financial advisors and get answers to their financial queries or even engage in a conversation with their chosen advisor through a private query session. This portal, available to anyone looking for customised financial and protection advice, provides a free gateway to help accomplish their financial goals by giving access to a wide selection of financial expertise through the site.

Pickuradvisor, a new online initiative from ING, enables both existing and potential clients to approach advisors in three easy steps. Firstly, clients select their area of interest from the portal. Then, they can choose from a panel of experts with qualifications that best appeal to their needs. The client can start a private query session and pose questions, or leave messages for their preferred advisor, who is committed to responding within 24 hours. This private blog is only accessible by the client and the advisor. To enter a private blog, clients are required to register on the site by setting up a personalised user ID and password.

Mr. M.K. Cheng, Country Manager, HK/Macau, ING Insurance Asia/Pacific, said, "We appreciate that managing all aspects of life is more difficult today, and thus consulting an expert for a solution is essential. We have specially chosen advisors from ING Life and ING Financial Planning to cover different areas of expertise and give clients more choice. This initiative has been instrumental in delivering to customers our accomplishment in working towards being customer-centric."

The CEO of ING Financial Planning, Mr. David Bellingham, added, "This unique website platform opens a dialogue between advisors and clients, and provides them an easy to access means of obtaining tailored financial advice. We strongly believe that we can make a difference by providing new and convenient ways for clients to obtain financial advice."

According to David Garceran Nieuwenburg, ING regional head e-Business in Asia Pacific who introduced this project to Hong Kong: "it is good to see that ING can leverage its global strengths and come to this creative business proposition for the Hong Kong market by working together with a team of people in India, mainland China and Hong Kong."

The website now features 19 ING advisors who have been selected for their professionalism and financial expertise. The service empowers potential clients to view the advisors?profiles on the site, and then choose the advisor they would like to interact with and later meet. The advisors also get a chance to leverage their knowledge and advisory capabilities to a larger group of potential clients.

In addition to the private dialogue in the Pickuradvisor, clients may log on to the community blog to check on topics of interest to them, such as life protection, general and medical insurance, investments and mutual funds, among others. If a client prefers one-to-one interaction, the portal also offers a face-to-face meeting link through which clients may arrange personal meetings. Also available are protection and financial tips for blog visitors. In all, this website will serve as a platform for those who wish to ask for a financial consultation and acquire advisory expertise in all aspects, characterised by simplicity, speed and security in its usage, and to select advisors from among all available professionals, anywhere and anytime.

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