ING Investment Management Americas Hires Robis as Senior Portfolio Manager for Global Bonds and Head of Fixed Income Macro Strategies

NEW YORK, July 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ING Investment Management Americas today announced the expansion of its global bond team with the hiring of Robert Robis as Senior Portfolio Manager on the Global Bond Team and Head of Fixed Income Macro Strategies. In this newly created position, Mr. Robis will help set strategies across global rates, sectors and currencies for various investment portfolios run by the firm.  He also serves as a portfolio manager for the highly rated ING Global Bond Fund (INGBX).

"There continues to be significant interest in global fixed income in light of recent market and economic events and owing to low interest rates in the US and other developed countries," said Michael Mata, Head of Multi-Sector Fixed Income Strategies at ING Investment Management, Americas to whom Mr. Robis reports.  "Investors are increasingly showing interest in diversifying their fixed income portfolios to include global and non-US exposure.  Rob will play an integral role working with our teams to set strategies for our various investment strategies for both the advisor and institutional market place."

Mr. Robis is a seasoned fixed income investment expert who most recently spent five years at OppenheimerFunds where he held numerous roles including senior fixed income portfolio manager and global macro strategist. Earlier in his career, Mr. Robis worked at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.  He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and an MA in Economics from New York University.

"This is an exciting time to join ING Investment Management's fixed income group," said Mr. Robis. "There continues to be significant challenges and opportunity in the markets, and I look forward to working with the global bond and sector teams to locate investment opportunities for our portfolios."

ING Investment Management's Global Bond Team, headed by Christine Hurtsellers, CIO of Fixed Income, is comprised of 15 dedicated investors who are complemented by broad sector teams. In addition to supporting the ING Global Bond Fund, the team also works on the core, core plus and government/credit oriented strategies.

About ING

ING Group is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services to over 85 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 40 countries. With a diverse workforce of about 125,000 people, ING is dedicated to setting the standard in helping our clients manage their financial future.

About ING Investment Management

ING Investment Management Americas is the primary investment arm of ING Group and one of the largest global investment managers with over $500 billion in assets under management across more than 30 countries. ING Investment Management's broad array of investment strategies, combined with ING Group's distribution capabilities across retail and institutional channels, enables the organization to offer an integrated financial services solution for all of its clients around the world. In the Americas, ING-IM manages over $224 billion with offices in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

SOURCE ING