Does ING's banking business in Australia meet the Dutch banking group's revised strategic direction and might it soon be for sale? Some fragmentary clues in a presentation by the bank's chief executive, Jan Hoffman, at an investor conference in Frankfurt overnight might lead to tentative conclusions that some local operations of ING Direct are not really strategic to ING and, should a buyer emerge at the right price in Australia, the bank would be sold. The published version of the presentation at ING's website notes, in a general way, that the group will "assess growth plays with the most potential" of the bank's scattered portfolio of direct banking business that were, in their time, an icon of innovation in banking. ING earned €700 million in profit from its "other" banking businesses in calendar 2008 or about one eighth of the overall profit generated by the bank. The operating profit from ING Bank (Australia) was $182.1 million last year, up six per cent on 2007. Account numbers increased in Australia even though the bank experienced outflows during the third and fourth quarters of the year. On the asset side the bank has more recently culled the number of mortgage managers it deals with. Banking businesses in some other markets may be more obvious candidates for a sale, with the ING Direct business in Canada viewed as likely to be on the market. ING sold a 70 per cent stake in its Canadian life insurance and wealth business through a public listing earlier this year (and with the business now known as Intact Financial Corp). ING's Australian wealth management business, which ING operates through a joint venture with ANZ, must also be under close strategic review from the point of view of both partners. The end date of the 10-year life of the joint venture is within the planning horizon of each of ING and ANZ and the altered strategies of each suggest that the business will need new owners.