AMP is bracing for another crunch in profits this year as it races to stop investors pulling further billions out of its funds management businesses and revealed it was dumped at the altar by its only suitor, US-based Ares Management.
With new chairwoman Debra Hazelton’s drawn out “portfolio review” failing to attract any serious corporate interest in AMP’s financial advice, superannuation and banking divisions, chief executive Francesco De Ferrari will slash customer super fees, freeze staff wages and cut costs after finding the 171-year-old company was unable to divorce its perennially underperforming businesses.