AMP troubles deepen as further harassment complaints emerge

AMP’s capital division is the subject of at least two further non-disclosure agreements linked to sexual harassment and bullying complaints.

The Weekend Australian understands the non-disclosure agreements were signed within the last five years. Hollie Adams/The Australian

Embattled AMP’s capital division is the subject of at least two further non-disclosure agreements linked to sexual harassment and bullying complaints by female employees, casting a further shadow over the wealth group’s culture.

The Weekend Australian understands the non-disclosure agreements were signed within the last five years, with one relating to a sexual harassment and bullying complaint against a former senior business manager.

The other non-disclosure agreement involved bullying, and a complaint against a manager that remains an employee at AMP Capital.

The Weekend Australian has chosen not to name the men who were subjects of the complaints.

An AMP spokesman declined to comment on a list of questions put to the company on Friday.

Sources said the culture in some parts of AMP Capital was made worse by a hit list managed by a senior staff member. It was used to target, dismiss or manage- out those that didn’t gel with the entrenched culture or had voiced concerns about the strategic ­direction.

Employees on that list were often told their working lives “would become very uncomfortable” if they stuck around. AMP Capital is the group’s infrastructure and real estate division.

Julia Szlakowski

In light of several of AMP’s cultural shortcomings being made public over the past two months, group chief executive Francesco De Ferrari has made improving culture his top priority for the remainder of 2020.

Investors have over the past week urged the group to make meaningful changes to reform culture, as a key plank of a three-year turnaround strategy.

The latest revelations follow a horror week for AMP, which on Monday lost its chairman David Murray and fellow board member John Fraser. Debra Hazelton took the reins as chairman.

The head of AMP Capital, Boe Pahari, who was elevated to the role in July, was demoted to his former role in infrastructure ­equity.

The events of the past two months have stained AMP’s culture and further damaged the group’s reputation, following the battering it received at the Hayne royal commission.

The promotion of Mr Pahari sparked outrage given a 2017 sexual harassment complaint against him that led to the female subordinate leaving the company and a financial penalty as high as $500,000 being levied on him.

Former AMP employee Julia Szlakowski and her lawyers made part of her complaint against Mr Pahari public this month, piling the pressure on AMP.

She outlined that Mr Pahari had extended her London hotel booking without permission, made calls and texts in the early hours of the morning after a night out, and referred to his “limp dick” when she declined to use his credit card to buy clothing.

A settlement was reached between Ms Szlakowski and she parted ways with AMP two years ago. She did not sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The situation started becoming more damaging when AMP’s Australia boss Alex Wade suddenly left the company early this month, without explanation. The Weekend Australian revealed the exit was linked to poor conduct and the sending of lewd photos to a female employee.

Mr Pahari and Mr Wade are not are the subjects of the complaints referred to in the ­aforementioned non-disclosure agree­ments.

Still, current AMP staff members canvassed by this newspaper said the scandals were causing immense damage to the company’s brand, with some AMP Capital customers questioning their relationship with the firm.

AMP CEO Francesco De Ferrari. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

A former AMP Capital staff member, on the basis of anonymity, described the division as a “fiefdom on steroids” and characterised it as a regime of “silencing and bullying”.

On Tuesday night, Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill invoked parliamentary privilege to detail separate damning allegations against AMP by a former female staff member, who was also separately pushed to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The statement Senator O’Neill read included allegations of groping, threats and a senior colleague rubbing his genitals against the unnamed AMP employee.

It also outlined how her complaint was investigated and treated by the company.

“I was given five days to sign an NDA or lose my job. I am almost certain that this was illegal,” Ms O’Neill read.

“I had run out of funds to pay my lawyers and I was physically and psychologically destroyed, so I signed. It’s difficult to explain how vulnerable I felt during this period … I was actively put under extreme pressure to make a decision while completely alone. I felt desperate and cornered.”

The complainant’s statement also highlighted many “good people” at AMP, who were being sullied by bad apples.

“Some are wonderful leaders who are focused on a strong and inclusive culture. This was certainly the case in one part of the business, where such behaviour had been systematically eradicated over recent years,” Senator O’Neill read.

“However, it only takes a handful of rotten apples to spoil the barrel and, in this case, it’s obvious who those rotten apples are. Not only are they the direct perpetrators but they are the people who enable them. They are equally, if not more, culpable.”

AMP Capital was also hit by a new round of departures on Friday as New Zealand chief Bevan Graham and head of clients Greg McMaster announced their resignations.

An AMP Capital spokeswoman confirmed the departures, saying the business would undertake an internal and external search to fill the role of NZ managing director.

Friday’s resignations follow a handful of others from AMP Capital.

Those resignations include global equities investment chief David Allen, Australian equities boss Genevieve Murray and co-head of sustainable investment Emily Woodland.

Ms Murray has been appointed to run listed equities at the Future Fund.

Portfolio manager Kristen Le Mesurier, who oversees some of AMP Capital’s diversified multi-asset funds including the Ethical Leaders Balanced Fund, is also stepping down from her position to take up a new role outside the group.

She is said to be headed to Platypus Asset Management after working out a notice period.

Mr Graham joined AMP more than a decade ago, and was also the NZ chief economist. AMP Capital said he would stay in his role until January, to oversee a succession process, before formally stepping down.

NZ clients boss Mr McMaster will leave AMP Capital after eight years.

Given Ms Le Mesurier’s slated departure, AMP Capital appointed Darren Beesley and Fiona Manning as co-portfolio managers of the Ethical Leaders Balanced Fund products.

Do you know more? moullakisj@ theaustralian.com.au