Speaking at the annual general meeting in Melbourne, Mr McKeon said that industry scandals had prompted AMP to make culture changes, which included placing a responsibility on the company’s board and leadership teams to demonstrate role model behaviour.
Mr McKeon said it is also important for leaders to be open to and respond to bad news, which may sometimes come from whistleblowers.
“It’s the responsibility of leaders to respond constructively to challenging news. It’s our duty to listen to, investigate and fix,” he said.
“We want employees at any level to feel safe and empowered to identify and raise issues that are unethical, unacceptable or even questionable. Our CEO Craig Meller regularly emphasises the importance of speaking up and taking action.”
Despite these efforts, Mr Meller said, mistakes can still be made.
“Yet, for all the action we are taking to strengthen and improve culture and for all our best intentions, we won’t always get things right. When we make a mistake, we acknowledge it, apologise and work hard to fix it as quickly as possible,” he said.
“No organisation is perfect. We don’t hold ourselves up as an example, nor do we have all the answers because there are things we need to change and things we need to do better.
“We know, however, that culture is an important conversation to have if we want our industry to continue to thrive and prosper. This will only happen if we have the community’s trust and, therefore, a social licence to operate.”
AMP announced in April 2016 that Mr McKeon would step down from the chairman’s role after yesterday’s general meeting. Board member John Palmer is now interim chairman until a permanent appointment is made.
Also announced yesterday, AMP said it will be launching four solutions later this year that are focused on the “financial goals that matter most to our customers”.
“To date, we have designed innovative technology to help financial advisers work more efficiently with their customers to realise their goals,” said AMP chief executive Craig Meller.
“The combination of technology and a face-to-face conversation is a powerful motivator in helping customers realise their financial goals sooner. We are testing and improving this experience and will gradually take it to scale for AMP advisers, and their clients, across Australia.”
[quote name=”BigM”]Perhaps they can start by allowing advisers to place business outside of AMP products. Using AMP products gives the adviser a 4 time multiple for the BOLR (buyer of last resort) arrangement but using any products outside of AMP delivers a 1 time multiple only. This goes directly against the spirit of FOFA and ensures the adviser is not focused on the best interest of the client. ASIC should take AMP to task for this because it is offensive to say the least.[/quote]
Have heard through the grape-vine that BOLO will now be paid on any product (not just AMP) which removes the incentive to just place business with AMP products. Apparently AMP are moving with the FOFA times so will be interesting to see how this impacts business values.
Big M — The BOLR calculations have changed recently. The interesting part will be how they deal with technology as it is something AMP does not do well at all and they definitely don’t innovate. Also APL’s need to be expanded however this is something common across more licensees. Yes I am licensed through AMP.
[quote name=”BigM”]Perhaps they can start by allowing advisers to place business outside of AMP products. Using AMP products gives the adviser a 4 time multiple for the BOLR (buyer of last resort) arrangement but using any products outside of AMP delivers a 1 time multiple only. This goes directly against the spirit of FOFA and ensures the adviser is not focused on the best interest of the client. ASIC should take AMP to task for this because it is offensive to say the least.[/quote]
Shame you don’t know the facts BIGM. What you state is NOT correct. There is no BoLR multiple differentiation between in house and external product for AMPFP. Please check you facts before shooting from the hip
BigM, once they’ve done that, perhaps they could move on to giving women the vote and reducing the number of balls in an over to 6?
[quote name=”BigM”]Perhaps they can start by allowing advisers to place business outside of AMP products. Using AMP products gives the adviser a 4 time multiple for the BOLR (buyer of last resort) arrangement but using any products outside of AMP delivers a 1 time multiple only. This goes directly against the spirit of FOFA and ensures the adviser is not focused on the best interest of the client. ASIC should take AMP to task for this because it is offensive to say the least.[/quote]
Wow… I didn’t know that… Crazy that is still ‘legal’ and gets around conflicting remuneration.
Perhaps they can start by allowing advisers to place business outside of AMP products. Using AMP products gives the adviser a 4 time multiple for the BOLR (buyer of last resort) arrangement but using any products outside of AMP delivers a 1 time multiple only. This goes directly against the spirit of FOFA and ensures the adviser is not focused on the best interest of the client. ASIC should take AMP to task for this because it is offensive to say the least.
The FP industry will die a death of a thousand cuts unless the pathetic compliance circus is reigned in and set to a realistic level.
50 page SOA’s, lose and litigate, multi hour back office processing and ridiculous audit reviews by people with no planner experience.
This industry has turned into a massive joke that needs rescuing desperately.