AMP's handling of BOLR still a matter of contention
AMP Limited can expect further parliamentary questioning around its treatment of financial advisers and the use of compliance records in the context of those seeking to exercise their rights under Buyer of Last Resort (BOLR) contracts.
While NSW Labor Senator, Deborah O’Neill, has failed to have the treatment of the AMP advisers adopted as a matter for inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services it is open to other parliamentarians to question AMP Limited in other forums including in the context of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into the four major banks and the broader financial services industry.
It is also open to O’Neill and other senators to raise the issue with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) which has previously signalled its reluctance to become enmeshed in what it views as a commercial dispute between the advisers and AMP.
Senator O’Neill’s office acknowledged her ongoing concern over the treatment of AMP financial advisers seeking to exit the company in the context of data compiled by one of those advisers suggesting that only 24.5% of advisers had passed the compliance standard necessary to ensure 100% delivery of their BOLR contract payout
AMP has previously questioned the validity of that data which is based on a sample of 60 advisers who have been part of the company’s exit process.
That data also showed that only 24.5% of advisers had passed the process and that 20.8% had opted to bypass the BOLR/compliance process by accepting a once-off exit offer from the company.
The data pointed to an exit audit fail rate of 43.5%.
All of this has been happening against the background of other current and former AMP advisers participating in a class action which was filed in July over the alleged dishonouring of the BOLR contracts.
According to documentation handed to Money Management, AMP advisers would need to have an overall client file score of over 85% to ensure full delivery of their BOLR entitlement, scaling down to a total loss of entitlement below 14.9%.
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