AMP signals advice is no longer a numbers game
AMP Limited has signalled key elements of the strategy for its financial advice network, revealing to investors that it is no longer a numbers game where advisers are concerned.
According to the briefing provided to investors, AMP intends shifting the emphasis away from adviser numbers to “productivity, professionalism and compliance”.
In doing so, the company noted that the number of advisers in core licensees had declined by 4.6 per cent last year, largely due to exists from the industry including retirements.
To a large extent the picture painted by AMP for the future of its advice network appears to reflect the realities being driven home by the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) regime and the more recent announcement by the Government of an end to grandfathered commissions in 2012.
In a chart depicting the current shape of its advice network in Australia, AMP revealed that the total number of so-called “core licensees” had declined to 2,567 as at December, last year, compared to 2,692 with the greatest decline being amongst AMP Financial Planning advisers – down to 1,334 in 2018 from 1,437 a year before.
The AMP explanation to investors has come at the same time as some AMP advisers press their representatives for greater clarity around Buyer of Last Resort (BOLR) arrangements, with some demanding pre-Royal Commission valuations.
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