AMP planners applaud as Mohl becomes permanent chief

AMPfinancial planners have reacted positively to the appointment of Andrew Mohl as the permanent chief executive of the financial services giant.

Mohl, who was appointed acting chief executive of AMP last week following the departure of former chief Paul Batchelor, was today handed the full time reigns to the top job by the group’s board.

The chief executive of the Australasian Association of AMP Advisers, Neil Whelan, says Mohl, who spent almost three years as managing director of AMP’s financial services division, would bring to the job an understanding of the issues facing financial planners.

But Whelan says Mohl would have to first play a key role in restoring confidence in the AMP brand and rebuilding the often sagging morale of AMP’s advisers.

Whelan says AMP advisers have had to deflect much criticism over the past six months from clients who have mistakenly associated the poor performance of their AMP investments with AMP’s wavering share price.

“The planners share with clients the concern when [AMP’s] share price is going south, because a lot of clients don’t understand the link between the [AMP’s] share price and their own investments,” Whelan says.

Whelan says AMP, under Paul Batchelor, did not do enough to allay some of the fears of investors in what is an uncertain funds management market.

“It is our perception that communication from the previous administration was not as effective and timely as it could have been. Our understanding, having worked with Andrew [Mohl] in the past, is that that will change very quickly,” Whelan says.

Whelan says the association, which represents 1720 AMP advisers in Australia and New Zealand, would work closely with Mohl over coming months on issues facing the group’s financial planners.

AMP said today Mohl had signed a letter of appointment to take on the top job at the financial services giant, but would sign a more detailed contract of employment over coming weeks.

The formal contract will include details of the equity component of Mohl’s remuneration, which will be subject to shareholder approval at AMP’s next annual general meeting in 2003.