Wilkins steadies AMP ship as Murray gets aboard

Stability and restoration of trust are the key goals for AMP chief Mike Wilkins now he has David Murray as the change-agent.

Stability and restoration of trust are the key goals for AMP chief Mike Wilkins now he has David Murray as the change-agent on the board.

In an interview yesterday, Wilkins stayed well clear of any major overhaul of the belea­guered financial services group and backed former chief Craig Meller’s new “Goals 360” financial advice model.

Wilkins’ role is the steady hand on the tiller, leaving it to Murray and the new chief to make any major structural changes.

He backed the vertically integrated structure, saying “it benefits consumers”, and “you have read a lot about our mistakes but not a lot is written about the $1 billion in life insurance claims we pay out”.

Wilkins also backed AMP’s role in advice, saying “financial advice is really important for the country and the nation is better off with more advice”.

That said, you get the sense there will not be a revolution in Wilkins’ time at the helm, just a safe pair of hands as he attempts to restore faith in the iconic company and mend broken fences with government, regulators and in particular customers.

Completion of the customer remediation program is the No 1 task.

Wilkins says “change is necessary” but he is leaving that task to others. Murray has taken on his first big company board seat 13 years after leaving the CBA because he likes the challenge and sees the importance of AMP in Australia’s financial system.

The former CBA chief has stayed well clear of the directors’ club and will now decide whether the problems facing the AMP board are structural, as in corporate governance failures, or the wrong personnel.

He is likely to make changes in both respects.

Goals 360 is a digital platform being rolled out by AMP, with an adviser to help people plot their financial needs and chart future savings. Wilkins backed the model. But he also implicitly attacked the old leadership, saying AMP had for too long been a follower and needed to be a leader. “We need a rest,” he confided in an interview with The Australian.

“AMP should be a game-changer and products like Goals 360 do that,” he added.

Wilkins made clear he was not a long-term candidate for the chief executive job, saying “I’ve done my bit for 22 years as a chief executive”.

This means he will stay only until a new chief is found.

The interim boss is quick to acknowledge past issues, noting “we have let a lot of people down”.