Court documents from late last year reveal Justice Mark Moshinsky ordered AMP to give discovery of a range of documents to lawyers representing AMP Financial Planning advisers in the case by 31 March.
The documents include those relating to any possible change in AMP’s BOLR policy in the year leading up to its August 2019 announcement that BOLR multiples would be changed, as well as those dating back to January 2018 that discussed the likely occurrence of a decrease in the market value of client register rights relating to grandfathered commissions.
In addition, AMP was ordered to release documents “relied upon … as constituting notice to the change of BOLR multiple”, and a copy of meeting minutes, papers and documents relating to the 7 August 2019 board meeting in which the changes were decided upon.
The list of discoverable documents also included those relating to whether an “economic change” had occurred in the two years leading up to the change of policy, and documents relating to consideration of AMP Financial Planning’s liability in respect of its BOLR obligations before and after the changes.
Last year, ifa reported the legal argument in the case would centre around terms in AMP advisers’ BOLR contracts and whether the group was required to give 13 months’ notice before any change to BOLR values, or whether regulatory change such as the removal of grandfathered revenue constituted special circumstances.
“There is a clause in the contract and it basically says that if there is a detrimental change [to values] AMP has to give 13 months’ notice, [and] advisers can give six or 12 months’ notice to exit before the new terms come in,” Neil Macdonald, chief executive of AMP’s Advisers Association, said at the time.
“There is a separate clause that says ‘subject to the above, if it’s economic, legislative or political changes then AMP can make changes’, but the intent is that that was only ‘subject to the above’, which is if it’s detrimental they’ve got to give notice.”
The judge further ordered AMP to produce a document recording each purchase or sale of client register rights between January 2017 and August 2019 between AMP Financial Planning practices, as well as AMP Financial Planning client books sold externally and to advisers belonging to other AMP aligned dealer groups.
The detail to be published in the document would include the date and purchase price of each transaction as well as the implied multiples to revenue relating to ongoing fee arrangements.
The court ordered the AMP adviser class to provide a $1.5 million security for AMP’s costs in preparing the documents for discovery, in the form of deeds of indemnity from a number of insurers.
The case continues with parties due to provide subpoenaed documents related to the proceedings on 3 February.
What documents? I’m sure they have found the shredder by now.
The longer this goes, the less likely the outcome will be favourable for AMP.
There track history on doctoring documents is pretty good……….
They escaped criminal charges lying to ASIC, misleading the Courts is child’s play for amp.
Not really, they got caught at the Royal Commission pretty quickly. Poor old Jack Regan, like a slow moving aged kangaroo on the Nullabor Plain standing in front of the head lights of a high speed road train. Tragic TV. AMP may lie, they just aren’t very good at it.
I actually felt sorry for Jack Regan. Other people deliberately lied and they put him up on the stand with minimal to no background. In saying that AMP will have learnt from that and it wouldn’t surprise me if they have misplaced the paperwork in a shredder this time around.
Crime does not pay. Board and the Executive need to be held accountable for this theft.
The problem is that it does pay.
This looks good for AMP. Those contracts are extremely one-sided.
Yet they still broke them, shows the level of their greed
AMP have clearly just sent their lawyers looking through old contracts to screw advisers, both salaried and self-employed in any and every way possible. An employed adviser still with the firm informed me recently that she sat through a presentation last year in which the presenter referred to one of AMPs “strategies” for increasing revenue over the previous 12-month period had been “withholding scheme and equity payments owing to the current and former advisory network”. This muppet presenter, presumably in middle management expressly communicated this to a large number of AMP staff. AMP are a disgusting and shameful organisation who demonstrate on a daily basis that they do not deserve to existing in corporate Australia, or anywhere for that matter.