ING Launches Guaranteed Income Solution

January 12, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – ING’s U.S. Retirement division has launched the ING Lifetime Income Protection Program. 

The new asset allocation program will help 401(k) plan participants convert their savings over time into guaranteed income that lasts throughout retirement. 

The ING Lifetime Income Protection Program is initially being offered to customers in ING’s corporate defined contribution plans. It provides participants with a series of target date asset allocation models, or “portfolios,” that help build critical retirement savings followed by an income benefit for life, guaranteed by multiple leading insurers. 

ING worked closely with AllianceBernstein to design a program that leverages the firm’s multi-insurer platform, while incorporating both guaranteed and non-guaranteed components into one consolidated program. 

The non-guaranteed component consists of multi-manager, target-date collective investment trust funds.  These funds seek to leverage the benefits of both active and passive investment strategies from several fund companies.  ING’s asset manager, ING Investment Management, oversees these collective trusts.  AllianceBernstein also serves as an investment manager.

The guaranteed component, which is triggered at a certain time as a participant gets closer to retirement, is provided through multiple insurance contracts, each issued by one of three insurance companies — ING’s own ING Life Insurance and Annuity Company, as well as AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company and Nationwide Financial. Investors benefit by having ING provide a single, consolidated program with the multiple insurance companies splitting the responsibility under the contracts.  This diversifies risk and helps participants receive competitive payouts.