Ninety-five percent of the investors who had funds frozen with ING may have accepted the company’s offer yesterday, but that doesn’t mean that they are all happy about it – it just means they were backed into a corner and felt they had no other option, ACT New Zealand Finance Company Spokesman John Boscawen said today.
“ING Chief Executive Helen Troup’s claim, that the high level of acceptance ’signals that it was a good offer’, is completely laughable,” Mr Boscawen said.
“These investors were offered no real choice at all – either accept ING’s offer now and recoup some losses, or await the Commerce Commission’s decision with no guarantee of getting anything. When faced with such a bleak alternative who wouldn’t take the offer?
“These investors trusted ING’s assurances that these were medium-to-low-risk investments and some were told it was almost as safe as keeping their money in the bank. Without these, most would not have invested their money – which, for some, represented most of their life savings.
“To make matters worse the majority of those who accepted ING’s offer yesterday were only able to do so on the condition that they waive their right to seek further compensation should ING be found to have misled investors. This is outrageous.
“However, a small minority of investors can claim additional compensation until July 31 – around 2,350 ANZ investors are yet to complain to the Banking Ombudsman and can do so if they feel they were misled. It is essential that they lodge their claim before July 31, otherwise even this avenue will be denied them.
“That’s also why I am urging the Commerce Select Committee to urgently hear investors’ submissions and will support a Private Member’s Bill to protect investors from ING’s blackmail tactics,” Mr Boscawen said.
Tags: Finance Companies