RC-linked class action against AMP for alleged overcharging begins

Led by Slater and Gordon and Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, over a period of seven weeks, the class action will see over 2.5 million Australians seek redress for years of alleged excessive fees on their superannuation accounts.

The class action alleges AMP trustees “systematically overcharged” members between 2008 and 2020, especially those invested in uncompetitive, high fee products, MySuper products, cash, and term deposits.

The central claims relate to the “overcharging of administration fees on several large, expensive products”, the law firms said, such as Flexible Lifetime Super and MySuper accounts, alongside overcharging investment fees on cash and term deposits.

The firms allege that no other retail fund was charging investment fees on cash or term deposits like AMP.

Emma Pelka-Caven, Slater and Gordon’s head of class actions, said the firm believes the evidence of this case will demonstrate AMP was “driven by profit and not the best interests of its superannuation members”.

“This is about justice for ordinary Australians. These are people who trusted AMP to safeguard their retirement savings – and instead lost thousands of dollars,” she said.

The Hayne royal commission uncovered significant misconduct within AMP’s superannuation operations, including charging fees for no service, charging deceased customers, misleading regulators and systemic governance and cultural failings.

Pointing to Hayne’s findings, the law firms said despite AMP’s attempts to “sweep aside the issues” highlighted during the royal commission, members are seeking compensation for the breaches they allege occurred over an extended period of time.

Rebecca Gilsenan, Maurice Blackburn’s national head of class actions, said AMP’s conduct reflects a serious failure of duty, transparency and fairness.

“The class action alleges that AMP superannuation trustees were deferential to the financial interests of the AMP Group at the expense of the interests of members. This had a harmful impact on millions of AMP superannuation account balances,” Gilsenan said.

“Millions of Australians were unknowingly short-changed over years. Through this class action, AMP superannuation account holders are seeking accountability and to be restored to the position they would have been in had the AMP trustees complied with their duties.”

AMP continues to deny wrongdoing and has defended the class action since proceedings began in 2019.

Namely, back in 2019, the two major law firms launched two separate class actions against the wealth giant which the Federal Court of Australia ordered them to consolidate into a single class action due to considerable overlap.

At the time, AMP, too, argued that only one class action should be allowed to continue in the interests of all parties involved.

A spokesperson for the wealth firm said at the time: “The proceedings will be vigorously defended.

“AMP and the trustees of its superannuation funds are firmly committed to acting in the best interests of their superannuation members and acting in accordance with legal and regulatory obligations. We encourage any customers who have concerns to contact AMP directly or their financial adviser.”

This class action for superannuation was the second filed by Slater and Gordon, with the first class action filed against Colonial First State (CFS).

Slater and Gordon told ifa’s sister brand InvestorDaily at the time that CFS and AMP were chosen as their first targets due to evidence given at the royal commission.

“The evidence at the royal commission really highlighted how, in our view, the trustee companies are letting down members and not acting in accordance with quite elementary trust law in Australia,” said the then senior associate at Slater and Gordon, Nathan Rapoport.

The class action against CFS, brought on behalf of 500,000 Australians, was resolved with a $100 million settlement, approved by the Federal Court last year.