Banking royal commission: Inevitable and appropriate to charge dead until informed, says AMP

AMP has maintained its strident defence of charging dead people for life insurance, reiterating it did not amount to an offence.

AMP said it was “inevitable and appropriate” to charge the dead until it was informed of a death. Picture: Hollie Adams

AMP has maintained its strident defence of the practice of charging dead people for life insurance, reiterating it did not amount to an offence.

In submissions made to the banking royal commission’s round of hearings that probed the life insurance sector, released today, AMP has again hit back at a number of allegations made by counsel assisting Rowena Orr QC.

AMP said it was “inevitable and appropriate” to charge the dead until it was informed of a death, and that it was always policy to refund money charged to dead members.

However, it had been plagued by a problem with how the refunds were “calculated and processed”.

It comes after the royal commission last month heard scandal-ridden wealth giant was continuing to charge dead people for life insurance, even after being told the customer had died.

The nation’s fifth-largest financial services group discovered in April it was slugging the dead, after launching an investigation when Commonwealth Bank admitted similar practices to the commission.