The joint venture fund run by Dutch banking group ING lost more than half its assets in the fourth quarter of 2005, as the country’s fund management industry as a whole dropped 1.2%, its first decline in five years, the Financial Times reported. The ING-China Merchants Securities fund, the country’s third largest investing in short-dated bonds, saw a 56% drop in value from US$3 billion to US$1.4 billion. The news comes after UK fund manager Schroders saw its joint venture equity fund with Bank of Communications lose nearly half its assets.