AMP chief executive, Alexis George, has shared how she has rebuilt the company and regained trust among consumers.
Appearing on the No Limitations podcast run by business consultancy Blenheim Partners, George discussed how the firm was in a difficult position when she first joined and lacked a cohesive brand value.
George joined AMP in 2021 from her role as deputy chief executive of ANZ, taking over from Francesco de Ferrari.
She said there had been questions whether the AMP name should be changed given the problems, but George was adamant it should be retained.
She said a lot of trust had been lost in the run-up and aftermath of the Hayne royal commission, both from consumers and the company’s own staff.
“I made the decision to keep the AMP brand; it’s an amazing brand with 175 years of history and we needed to restore trust in it and to restore belief of our people in the brand. Those were the two things that underpin our business strategy.
“I believe that was the right decision. We’re looking at our reputation all the time and over the last three years, we are right up there in terms of improvement. Building a brand that is known by most Australians is hard work.”
As for how she has helped AMP to rebuild that trust, she said consistency is key in the firm’s activities.
“It’s about consistency, consistently delivering on your promises, not making grandiose promises that you can’t keep or won’t deliver on, whether that’s to your people, your customers or your shareholders.”
The firm has seen adviser losses for the past few years, but it recently regained the top spot of Australia’s largest licensee from Insignia at around 850 advisers after seeing adviser numbers stabilise. Adviser satisfaction with the firm’s licensee services was up from 6.8 to 8.1, with over half of firms generating revenue of $1 million-plus.
As for how the firm is looking three years after George took over, she said she believes much of the negativity has now lessened.
“I’m not saying that we’re past all of things in the past, but we have dealt with a lot. We’ve dealt with some of our class actions, finished most of our transactions.
“For us it’s now about growing the business and making sure we can really deliver on that specialism around retirement across the whole business. That’s what it’s about for me, and keeping the customer at the centre of everything we do.”
However, unlike other advice licensees which have been particularly active when it comes to M&A, acquisitions are not on the immediate agenda when it comes to growing the business.
“I think there will be consolidation over time. I want to make sure we’re in that space and we’re in a space to be able to deal with that at the right point in time. My focus over the last couple of years has been on stabilising and strengthening the balance sheet.
“We’re in a good position now and you’ve got to do that groundwork to be able to even think about doing something like that.”
