AMP cuts super fees

AMP has announced $40 million worth of fee cuts to its key superannuation and retirement income products ahead of the new choice of superannuation environment.

AMP says 800,000 customers in its Flexible Lifetime - Super, Flexible Lifetime — Allocated Pension and CustomSuper platform products will benefit from the move.

The fee reductions, which AMP says are its largest ever, will see a 10 per cent average decrease in fees across the Flexible Lifetime - Superannuation platform.

The fees for Flexible Lifetime — Allocated Pension products will be cut by an average of 5 per cent, while those for CustomSuper will be cut by 6 per cent.

A statement issued today by AMP financial services managing director Craig Dunn says the cuts, which will take effect from November 1, are the result of savings achieved in recent fee negotiations with fund managers, as well as cost savings across the group more broadly.

“We have changed our relationship with our investment manager partners from a retail to an institutional relationship and removed the need for them to provide us with the overhead of supplying additional services that we can provide ourselves,” Dunn says.

He says the new choice of superannuation environment, which will kick in from July 1, 2005, had made the market for superannuation and retirement income products more competitive.

“Recent regulatory changes, including choice of superannuation fund legislation and more transparent fee disclosure are likely to make the market increasingly competitive. AMP has been a strong supporter of these changes. These fee reductions put us on the front foot and, combined with the strength of our planning distribution network, position us well in preparing for the new regulatory framework.”