AMP moves unilaterally on advice education standards
Amid the dramas impacting Commonwealth Financial Planning and Macquarie Bank, AMP Limited has announced the introduction of higher educational standards for its advisers and the implementation of Customer Advice Review panel to review customer complaints about advice.
The company said the measures would be implemented across all its licensee groups and were aimed to "significantly lift the bar on adviser professionalism and reinforce its existing commitment to stand behind the advice it gives to consumers".
The measures were announced by AMP Group Executive Advice and Banking Rob Caprioli on the back of the company's announcement of a steady half-year result within which net profit was down three per cent to $382 million.
Caprioli said the company would be working with the regulators and seeking to lead the way in helping to restore confidence and trust in financial advisers and the advice they give.
He said the measures to be implemented by AMP across its licensees were:
- All existing and new advisers must hold a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), a Fellow Chartered Financial Practitioner (FChFP), or Masters in Financial Planning (MoFP) qualification.
- New advisers must complete this qualification within five years of joining an AMP licensee while existing advisers have up to 31 December 2019 to do so. These qualifications are post-graduate degree equivalent, making AMP's minimum requirements the industry's highest.
- An AMP Customer Advice Review panel will be established by the end of this year to review any customer complaint about the quality of AMP's personal advice when the customer is not satisfied with AMP's response through normal channels.
Caprioli said that under the workings of the Customer Advice Review panel, if the panel found the personal advice received by a client was not appropriate when it was given, the customer would be restored to the position they would have been in if the appropriate advice had been given.
The panel will have an independent chair and the power to refund advice fees and compensate for losses.
He said the package also entailed a broad-ranging ethics and responsible decision-making program for advisers to be developed in conjunction with the St James Ethics Centre with industry input.
AMP's financial advice network in Australia comprises AMP Financial Planning, Charter Financial Planning, Genesys Wealth Advisers, Hillross, Horizons, ipac and smsf advice.
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