ING Allowed Market Timing in 2001, E-Mails Show

In its investigation into ING's acceptance of undisclosed fees from mutual funds offered in its retirement programs, including the one it runs in its own state, New Hampshire regulators discovered that the firm allowed market timing in a number of the funds going back to 2001, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The regulator made the discovery searching through the company's e-mails, in which a number of ING employees expressed concern that market timing by a few large clients was hurting returns for long-term shareholders.

ING fired a number of employees in 2004 for market-timing infractions, and last year, it paid NASD a fine of $1.4 million for the practice.

ING's president of retirement services in the U.S., Kathleen Murphy, said the company didn't accept fees to promote mutual funds in New Hampshire's retirement plan.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.