Who drove AMP’s super fee cut?

The board of the AMP superannuation funds approved a 50 basis point reduction in MySuper fees but did so in line with a time-table dictated elsewhere within AMP Limited, the Royal Commission was told.

AMP Limited acting chief executive, Mike Wilkins confirmed under questioning that while the 50 basis point reduction had been approved by the superannuation fund board but agreed with counsel assisting, Michael Hodge QC, that the timing of the fee reductions had been determined elsewhere in the organisation.

The admission came in the wake of earlier concerns raised in the Royal Commission about the independence of superannuation boards within vertically-integrated structures.

However, Wilkins said he nonetheless believed that the superannuation fund board was strong and independent in the way in which it looked after member interests.

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Hodge had put to Wilkins that while the superannuation fund board had approved the fee cut, it had “simply accept a timetable put by another part of AMP”.

Wilkins had earlier agreed with Hodge that the fee reduction was a result of letter received from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) relating to the performance of AMP’s MySuper products and a recognition that fees were at the upper end of the scale.