Dutch insurer and financial services provider ING Group, with operations in Windsor, has assembled a multicultural sales team whose aim is to draw more Hispanics as customers for its insurance and retirement products.
ING said that in recent years its multicultural sales have been a driver of growth in its individual life and employee benefits business.
The new Hispanic sales-marketing team, all of whom have experience in ING’s Latin American market, seeks to build on that foundation to expand its roster of Hispanic customers.
ING’s existing multicultural sales staff already includes members representing Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, Mexico and South Korea.
“With multicultural populations growing nearly five times faster than the overall U.S. population, we want to accelerate our growth and leverage the opportunity in the market,” Rob Leary, incoming CEO of ING Insurance U.S. said in a statement.
ING said a number of recent studies have found that African-Americans and Hispanics participate in and contribute to retirement plans at lower rates than whites and Asians. They also point to the improvement of financial literacy and education efforts as a way to better address this disparity, ING said.
Team members are: Andres Vargas Escobar, vice president of multicultural sales operations, and Erika Contreras Escobar, business coordinator, both based in Windsor; Juan Pablo Troncoso Philippi, manager of sales support, based in Irvine, Calif.; and Nydia Monarrez Lozano, manager of sales support, based in Tampa, Fla.
