It's sorry, not sorry, as AMP tries to talk its way out of trouble

AMP has plenty of practice when it comes to apologies. So it is perhaps understandable the embattled financial services company still thinks it can explain away some of the more troubling issues uncovered by the Hayne royal commission.

AMP said on Friday that "there is no evidence" to suggest that its board, including former chairman Catherine Brenner and former chief executive Craig Meller, acted inappropriately in relation to the preparation of a Clayton Utz legal report investigating the fee-for-no-service issue. Yet both are gone. And there may be more to follow.

AMP executive chairman Mike Wilkins has implored shareholders to not vote against the reelection of three company directors on Thursday.Credit: Fairfax Media

And then there's executive chairman Mike Wilkins, who broke his silence on Sunday. He began his interview with Fairfax Media by saying "it’s been a difficult couple of weeks" for the Sydney company and its stakeholders, and that the organisation "had let a lot of people down, including ourselves".

Previously, AMP admitted that it had lied to the regulator on numerous occasions, that it charged customers for no service (which is basically theft) and that it's been slow to give the money back.

To be fair, AMP, which is now the subject of three class actions by shareholders, has to be careful about what it admits to given it must negotiate the legal minefield created by the commission.

But the company needs to stop lurching between defensiveness and mea culpas. Hopes of restoring its internal culture and standing in the community depend on it.

Against this backdrop, Wilkins’ attempts to protect the three incumbent board directors that are up for re-election at the company's annual meeting on Thursday are problematic.

Particularly when all three will probably be gone in a year. The shareholder anger likely to be directed at the trio is justified.

Any attempt by the company to bolster their position in the current climate will add to perceptions AMP still hasn't gotten its head round the enormity of the problems it faces.

And then there is the speed with which David Murray was selected as chairman, which is unprecedented. What was the nature of the search process?

Sure he is a well known member of the financial services community, a former chief executive of the Commonwealth Bank and chaired the Financial Services Inquiry.

But he is also the man who stood before a Financial Review conference in 2016 and launched a scathing attack on the corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, for championing the idea that company directors should be held legally responsible for poor corporate culture.

Poor corporate culture and governance is exactly why AMP finds itself where it is today.

While those words may have reflected understandable frustration with ASIC, they may also come back to haunt him.

As for Wilkins - who has had earned a fine reputation during a long career in financial services - it is hard to know whether he rues the day he joined the AMP. All he would say is that he "has to look forward".