Fate of key AMP executive unclear after week of rolling heads

AMP is staying mum on the fate of one of its top executives allegedly involved in the group’s fee for no service scandal after a week of rolling heads at the wealth manager.

A report by Clayton Utz into AMP charging 16,000 clients fees for services they didn’t receive made serious adverse findings against Michael Guggenheimer, the managing director of AMP Financial Planning.

AMP's interim chief executive Mike Wilkins has a fight on his hands to restore stabilityCredit: Jessica Hromas

The Clayton Utz report found that the conduct of Mr Guggenheimer “was inconsistent with the expectations of all AMP staff in the AMP Code of Conduct (the Code) to "act professionally with honesty and integrity" and "to comply with our code, AMP's policies and the law and report any breach immediately".

This was in part because Mr Guggenheimer was allegedly aware of AMP’s practice of charging some of its clients for services they did not receive and had been questioned about the practice by junior staff, according to Clayton Utz.

AMP head of advice and New Zealand said in a statement to the royal commission last month that Mr Guggenheimer was “on leave pending the outcome of the employee investigation".

Speaking to Fairfax Media on Sunday, recently appointed AMP interim executive chairman Mike Wilkins declined to comment on Mr Guggenheimer's future.

“There’s an employment process going on at the moment,” he said.

Another AMP executive Justin Morgan, also named in the report as being partially responsible for the issue, left the company in December, according to Mr Regan's statement.