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ASIC drops investigation into ex AMP chair

The corporate regulator has confirmed it will not take action against former AMP chairwoman Catherine Brenner following revelations at the royal commission that the group had internal input into an apparently ‘independent’ compliance report.

A spokesperson for ASIC confirmed that the regulator would not be taking any action against Ms Brenner, who resigned as chair of the AMP board in April 2018 following evidence uncovered at the inquiry that an independent expert report provided to ASIC by law firm Clayton Utz regarding AMP's charging of fees for no service to advice clients had had input from AMP.

At the time, the AMP board said it was satisfied that Ms Brenner "did not act inappropriately" and that she and the board "were unaware of and disappointed about" the extent to which Clayton Utz and AMP's group general counsel at the time, Brian Salter, had collaborated on the report.

The news follows comments from the regulator at last week's House economics committee hearing that "a significant number" of other ASIC investigations were occurring with respect to AMP, and that the regulator was likely to initiate court proceedings against the group before the end of 2020.

"We have a number of investigations that are ongoing internally, and a number of investigations that have been ... against any particular entity," ASIC deputy chair Dan Crennan told the committee.

The ASIC spokesperson said that the regulator's "various investigations into matters concerning AMP continue".