Speculation mounts of AMP weighing major break-up, with bank sale or demerger on the cards

AMP chief executive Alexis George. Picture: Britta Campion

There’s rumblings in the market that some transformational changes could be in the works within the Bridge Street headquarters of AMP, with possible options around a company break-up or a major acquisition being floated.

Recent talk in the market centres on AMP working on a plan to split the business in two, where essentially the financial group’s bank is separated from its wealth management unit.

The $3bn AMP has made no secret of its willingness to sell the bank if it achieved a price over book value, but parties have been unwilling to pay up for the lender with a $23bn residential mortgage book and $20bn of deposits last year.

But perhaps AMP has found itself a buyer, or takes the view that it may make sense to separate the bank from the remaining AMP, with which it has no synergies.

DataRoom earlier reported that a plan had been floated to buy Westpac’s BT Panorama wealth management business, and pay by essentially swapping it with its bank.

However, Westpac was not interested in the bank and is believed to be keen to retain Panorama after earlier efforts to sell the unit through Morgan Stanley for up to under previous management.

Offers came in below its $1bn price expectations.

Bank sale proceeds could fund acquisitions.

AMP chief executive Alexis George was brought in during 2021 and in four years has stabilised the business and provided returns to investors.

Before then, AMP was severely criticised in the banking royal commission for providing fees for no service, and for poor performance and corporate governance failures.

Unrest from wholesale real estate and infrastructure investors resulted in a company break-up, including the sale of AMP Capital (renamed Collimate Capital) in 2023.

Resolution Life bought AMP’s life insurance unit in 2020 for $3bn.

Shares, while trading lower in 2025, are up 15 per cent in the past year with its market value at over $3bn. Now could be the right time for it to embark on mergers and acquisitions, as it needs an avenue for growth.

AMP would be a keen buyer of Insignia Financial, which provides financial advice, superannuation and investments services.

However, suitors had recently offered $5 a share, valuing the business at $3.35bn, which would be out of AMP’s price range.

Shares in Insignia closed at $3.49 each with its market value at $2.33bn.

Yet the only suitor left for Insignia is CC Capital, and there’s been little news on a deal since May, with some questioning whether it walks away along with earlier suitors, Bain Capital and Brookfield.

Rather than paying cash for the business, AMP could propose a scrip-based merger after other bids fall away.

Insignia chief executive Scott Hartley is a former chief executive at AMP Australia Wealth Management.

The understanding in terms of the talk of a company break-up is that AMP has a lot of options they are trying to work through.

The bank is capital heavy, whereas the wealth management business is capital light.

For 2024, AMP generated a 15.1 per cent lift in underlying net profit to $236m, returning $1.1bn in capital to investors since 2022.

It has $148.4bn of assets under management and is divided into units, including its platforms business, including its North platform, bank, superannuation and investments, and New Zealand wealth management operations, which are deemed non-core and group partnerships.

The platforms business generated $107m of net profit, up almost 19 per cent and the bank profit fell 22.6 per cent to $72m.

Superannuation and investments was up 26.4 per cent to $67m.

Market experts have praised AMP for its new Engine by Starling digital banking venture targeted at small business and sitting alongside its financial planning operations.

The banking technology enabled Starling Bank to become a leading digital bank, attracting more than 4.5 million small business and retail customer accounts in the UK since launching in 2017.

AMP declined to comment on speculation.