AMP Limited has listed "piloting new advice models" as being amongst its list of second-half priorities on the back of today announcing a three per cent decline in net profit to $382 million for the first half but a 16 per cent increase in underlying profit to $510 million.
Announcing the result on the Australian Securities Exchange today, AMP chief executive, Craig Meller described it as solid and said the company had made good progress on its strategy.
The Board declared a nine per cent increase to the interim dividend to 12.5 cents per share.
Wealth Management operating earnings increased by 16 per cent which the company said reflected increased investment-related income from higher customer accountant balances, a strong rebound in net cashflows and good cost controls.
It said that in wealth protection, operating earnings were $91 million compared with $64 million half on half reflecting the impact of management actions.
However it noted that the life insurance sector continued to face both structural and cyclical change and that the company had a range of initiatives underway to address these factors including improved customer retention campaigns and additional resources to handle customer claims more effectively and to help income protection customers get back to work more quickly.
The AMP report to the ASX noted that the company held 22 per cent of the advice market, 18 per cent of the individual risk market and 20 per cent of the retail superannuation and pensions market.
It said adviser numbers had remained stable in a changing regulatory environment with a two per cent increase in adviser numbers to 3,860.
