On Friday, the corporate regulator confirmed that, following consultation with the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions, no further action will be taken on the matter.
ASIC’s investigation related to suspected criminal conduct regarding the charging of fees for no service in relation to the BOLR Policy in breach of section 1041G (prohibition on dishonest conduct) of the Corporations Act 2001.
ASIC also investigated AMP for breaches of section 1308(2) (prohibition on making misleading statements) of the Corporations Act in relation to this conduct.
The investigation commenced in April 2019, while two briefs of evidence were brought to the CDPP’s attention mid last year.
“ASIC’s investigations into other allegations of fees for no service conduct within the AMP Limited group are continuing,” a statement released by ASIC read.
“The CDPP has now determined, on the basis of the available evidence and weighing the relevant public interest factors, that no charges should be brought for that conduct.”
In a statement released on Friday afternoon, AMP responded to ASIC's announcement.
"AMP acknowledges the deficiencies in its historic systems and processes within the Advice business to monitor ongoing service fees in relation to BOLR," AMP Group General Counsel, David Cullen said.
“In 2018, the business completed the implementation of enhanced systems and controls to improve monitoring and reporting and to protect against recurrence. We have apologised to all affected clients and confirm that remediation was also completed in full in 2018.
“With today’s confirmation that no action will be taken, we are pleased to have closure on this matter.”
Neil Griffiths
Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.
Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.
