New AMP chairman David Murray vows to rebuild trust, confidence
AMP white knight David Murray has vowed to help the embattled finance giant recover its position as a trusted institution in his new role as chairman.
AMP on Friday afternoon announced the former Commonwealth Bank chief executive would join the board as its new chairman after its annual general meeting next week. Acting executive chairman Mike Wilkins, who stepped into the role following the sudden departure of former chairman Catherine Brenner earlier this week, will then return to the role of acting chief executive.
Ms Brenner resigned days after chief executive Craig Meller also left the company following revelations at the Hayne royal commission that AMP had repeatedly misled the regulator and accusations it had doctored a so-called independent report.
The appointment of Mr Murray came on the same day as AMP formally responded to the allegations with forthright denials of any wrongdoing.
“We’re delighted to welcome a person of David Murray’s outstanding calibre to the chairman’s role. His appointment brings strong and experienced leadership to the company, strengthening our governance and our commitment to change," Mr Wilkins said.
"This is part of the reset that is necessary for the company and I look forward to working with David, the board and management to rebuild public confidence in the company and to restore shareholder value."
Mr Murray said he looked forward to helping AMP recover its position as a trusted financial institution.
"[AMP] is a significant financial institution and needs to play a role within the Australian financial system which supports the building of trust and confidence in that system in the community," he said.
Mr Murray said he was committed to "meaningful board renewal" but that the process needed to be "measured" to ensure stability.
"Restoring trust and confidence is not easy and does not happen overnight but I am confident this can be achieved."
'Strenuous' denial
In its submission to the royal commission, released on Friday morning, AMP "strenuously" denied last week's allegation by counsel assisting the banking royal commission that it may have committed a criminal offence when it provided a Clayton Utz report into its financial planning arm to the corporate regulator.
The financial services giant argued the matter should be left in the hands of the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), rather than being dealt with in criminal proceedings.
AMP was recommended for criminal charges for allegedly misleading ASIC by presenting a report by law firm Clayton Utz as independent, despite making the law firm change the report 25 times.
But in its submission, the wealth manager said there was "no evidence to suggest that the board, including the former chairman and former chief executive, acted inappropriately in relation to the preparation of the report".
"AMP fully expects ASIC will deal with the serious matters being investigated in an appropriate manner consistent with ASIC’s enforcement priorities and under a proper process with any affected parties having had the opportunity to be heard," AMP said.
As well as Ms Brenner and Mr Meller, chief legal counsel Brian Salter, who was involved in the production of the "independent" review, has also left AMP.
The royal commission heard the report went through 25 drafts, with hundreds of emails exchanged with Clayton Utz, before being submitted to ASIC as an independent report. Counsel assisting the commission Rowena Orr QC said last week that, in doing so, AMP had breached provisions of the Corporations Act that carry criminal sanctions.
But AMP refuted assertions that it had committed a criminal offence when it provided the altered report to the regulator.
"AMP strenuously denies the allegation by Counsel Assisting that it is open to find that it has committed a criminal offence in providing to ASIC in October 2017 a report prepared by Clayton Utz," AMP said in its submission.
That claim has been backed up by Clayton Utz, which issued a statement saying its investigation into the AMP advice business was "at the instruction of the AMP board, and the firm stood by the report's robust findings".
'Disappointing': Clayton Utz
Rob Cutler, Clayton Utz's chief executive partner, said in the statement that: "It is disappointing that it has been misreported that Clayton Utz was in some way involved in misleading ASIC. That is simply not true.
"The report we prepared was for the AMP board and was the result of an extensive investigation which in fact identified much of the conduct referred to by the [royal] commission. At no stage were the findings compromised by AMP or any other person.
“The investigation was undertaken according to the terms of reference set by AMP. This included that it was to be independent of the advice business and for the purpose of providing legal advice to the AMP board."
Mr Cutler said the report was not prepared for ASIC.
AMP accepts it repeatedly lied to the corporate regulator, though not as many times as it has been accused of, and admits it was slow in compensating clients who were charged fees without having received advice.
Shareholder ire
AMP face shareholders in Melbourne on Thursday at its annual general meeting.
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, which represents Australia's largest superannuation funds, has said it is opposed to the re-election of three of the company's directors - Holly Kramer, Vanessa Wallace and Andrew Harmos at the AGM.
The Australian Shareholders' Association will use its proxy voting power to vote against the three director up for re-election. It will also vote against the remuneration report, saying it is too generous and the hurdle for long-term incentives is not high enough.
with wires