The industry superannuation funds movement has expressed disappointment at the decision by AMP Financial Planning to remove industry funds from its approved products list.
AMP Financial Planning announced in 2004 that it would be including the industry funds on its approved list, but said on Monday that it had decided to remove them because of low levels of client demand and the costs involved in maintaining the industry funds on the list.
Reacting to the decision, Industry Funds spokesman Garry Weaven said that he was disappointed but not surprised by the decision in circumstances where industry superannuation funds did not pay sales commissions.
“When AMP first announced it was including certain industry funds on its approved list, we foreshadowed that no business would be directed,” he said. “We saw the announcement as simply an attempt to deflect criticism.”
Weaven said AMP’s network of financial planners sold products to their clients and received sales commissions from those products, and in circumstances where industry funds did not pay commission there was no reason for planners to recommend an industry fund.
Private market assets in super have surged, while private debt recorded the fastest growth among all investment types.
The equities investor has launched a new long-short fund seeded by UniSuper, targeting alpha from ASX 300 equities using AI insights.
The fund has strengthened efforts to boost gender diversity, targeting 40:40:20 balance across its investment teams by 2030.
The lower outlook for inflation has set the stage for another two rate cuts over the first half of 2026, according to Westpac.