Edwina Maloney, AMP’s Group Executive, Platforms, commented:

The Annual Performance Test is benefitting most Australians by holding trustees and super funds to account for investment returns and fees. We’re pleased that AMP’s MySuper products have again passed the test while delivering returns in excess of 11 per cent for the majority of our customers.

AMP takes its obligations to customers and the regulator very seriously, however, we continue to have concerns about some aspects of the test, particularly the detrimental impact for some customers investing through wrap platforms.

Despite administration fees for the AMP wrap platform being among the lowest in the market, we are disappointed that a small subset of investment options on the platform did not pass.

We are assessing the best approach for customers invested in these options going forward. We will also communicate with those impacted and their advisers to ensure they are aware of the implications.

These investment options are only tested because they are inaccurately classified by the Government as ‘trustee directed’ and we strongly support industry calls for a review of the test. We don’t believe these options are ‘trustee directed’, meaning the current test is delivering misleading results and causing confusion and potential financial harm for consumers.

Consumers and their advisers have made active and informed choices to invest in these options based on individual circumstances and objectives. This is very different for most members who are invested in default MySuper superannuation funds.  

This current form of the test only assesses 2 per cent of Australia’s Choice platform investment market and excludes many of the platforms with the highest administration fees, making it impossible to use the test as the basis for properly informed investment decisions and product comparisons.