ANZ pays out to woman with money in frozen fund

ANZ bank has paid out more than $200,000 to an 87-year-old woman in poor health, whose life savings are tied up in a frozen ING fund.

The woman, whose only other income is her pension, put the money into the ING Diversified Yield Fund on the advice of her ANZ financial planner, The New Zealand Herald reported today.

The fund, and its companion Regular Income Fund, were indefinitely frozen in March because of the effects of the global credit crisis.

The deal is one of a number of settlements the Herald said it was aware the bank has reached with people who invested through their ANZ financial advisers.

It came after the involvement of the Banking Ombudsman, who has identified bank customers suffering financial hardship as a result of the freeze on their funds, and helped arrange some relief on a goodwill basis.

ANZ owns 49 percent of ING New Zealand.