AMP's relapse
Rampart reveals a new financial adviser scandal inside the wealth giant.
Eight years after the Hayne Royal Commission flayed AMP for charging dead clients fees for services it never provided, the wealth giant finds itself staring down the barrel of another rancid advice scandal.
This time, corpses' wallets are safe from sticky fingers. But AMP seems to have reverted to some of its other grotty habits: failing to police its authorised representatives, and worse, turning a blind eye to their misconduct.
On June 26, 2024, AMP's then group executive of advice, Matt Lawler, received a whistleblower report. It alleged that advisers in the Partners Wealth Group network which operated under the licence of AMP's Charter Financial Planning had systematically funnelled clients into investments outside Charter's approved product list, and that a PWG subsidiary, Partners Private, harvested secret commissions from those investments.
One source familiar with the matter told Rampart that Lawler appeared to take the allegations seriously; that by July 5, Lawler had assembled a team to investigate; and that AMP's then general manager of adviser partnerships, Sara McQueen, spearheaded the investigation into the allegations. Her remit at AMP, of course, was to keep clients like PWG happy, making her an egregious choice for involvement in the investigation.
