The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking and Financial Services Industry has claimed its first victim – AMP chief executive, Craig Meller.
The AMP Limited board has issued a formal apology for the failings revealed at the Royal Commission and announced that Meller, who was to depart the company later this year, had agreed to step down from his role with immediate effect.
Meller will be replaced in the interim by Mike Wilkins, a non-executive director of AMP Limited and a former chief executive of IAG Limited.
The announcement also said that the motion approving Meller’s equity grant at the next AMP annual general meeting had been withdrawn.
At the same time the company’s Group General Counsel, Brian Salter took leave pending a review by the company.
The AMP board said it had also established a comprehensive review of the company’s regulatory reporting and governance processes to be overseen by a retired judge or similar independent expert.
The company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) said the company had also established a board committee to review the issues related to the advice business raised at the Royal Commission which would be chaired by Wilkins with the assistance of law firm, King & Wood Mallesons.
It said the company’s group general counsel, Brian Slater had agreed to take leave while the review was undertaken with AMP general counsel, Governance, David Cullen, filling the broader role.
AMP said it would be making a submission to the Royal Commission to respond to the issues raised.
The company announcement quoted Meller as saying he was honoured to have been AMP chief executive and that “I am personally devastated by the issues which have been raised this week”.
“This is not the AMP I know and these are not the actions our customers should expect from the company,” he said.
