The Federal Court has ordered AMP Financial Planning and AMP Life pay a monetary penalty of $24 million after proceedings brought against it by ASIC.
In a media release from the regulator on Friday, it said AMP Group breached the law when charging life insurance premiums and advice fees from the superannuation accounts of more than 2,000 deceased customers.
The AMP companies received over $500,000 in insurance premiums from the superannuation accounts of deceased customers, with at least $350,000 charged between May 2015 and August 2019.
Additionally, the AMP companies received over $100,000 in advice fees from deceased customer accounts, with at least $75,000 being charged between May 2015 and August 2019.
Both AMP companies also admitted that they accepted insurance premiums and advice fees even though, at the time they received those fees, there were reasonable grounds for believing that they would not be able to supply the insurance or advice.
The court also found all four AMP companies contravened their overarching obligations as Australian financial services licensees to act efficiently, honestly and fairly.
In an update to the ASX, AMP said it identified issues with its processes regarding deceased customer accounts which it self-reported to the regulator and changed its policies to address these issues and remediate customer accounts.
In total, AMP said it remediated 10,155 accounts for a sum of $5.2 million for the period of 2011 to 2019 which included compensation for lost earnings. The remediation was completed in May 2020.
AMP said the penalty has been provisioned by AMP in its financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2022.
Full proceedings had been against AMP trustees: AMP Super and NM Super; AMP Financial Planning; AMP Life; and AMP Services.