AMP Australian wealth management unit’s net outflows more than halve

(Reuters) -AMP Ltd on Friday reported third-quarter net outflows at its Australian wealth management unit more than halved due to increased inflows into its flagship online investment platform, North, and reduced withdrawals at its pension trusts.

AMP has suffered from persistent outflows since a government-backed inquiry revealed a series of scandals that the 173-year-old firm has been striving to get past as it seeks to regain public trust.

“We’ve seen a reduction in cash outflows to other superannuation funds and we’re winning new customers on our North platform, which has continued to grow cashflows from independent financial advisers,” AMP Chief Executive Officer Alexis George said.

The North platform recorded inflows of A$774 million in the quarter, while outflows at the Master Trust fell to A$819 million from A$1.59 billion.

According to the company’s annual report released in March this year, Master Trust offers the largest single retail superannuation product set in Australia with around 850,000 customers.

Net cash outflows at AMP’s main wealth management business were A$0.8 billion ($502.40 million) for the three months to September, compared with A$1.9 billion recorded a year earlier.

Assets under management at the unit, however, fell A$3.7 billion to A$121.4 billion due to a downturn in investment markets and continued cash outflows.

AMP said net interest margins at its banking unit remained on track to meet their annual forecast range of 135 basis points (bps) to 140 bps.

($1 = 1.5924 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)