AMP NZ wealth business has seen another senior management rejig including the departure of long-time legacy product specialist, Wayne Hirt.
Hirt, most recently head of the AMP NZ Retirement Trust (NZRT) and other legacy products, ended an almost eight-year stint with the business in September.
Following his exit, responsibility for the roughly $3.2 billion NZRT employer super master trust shifted to Justin Boyes, now in the newly created position of AMP general manager retail customer.
Boyes joined AMP in 2020 as acting chief client officer after serving more than eight years as marketing director of ventilation business, HRV. Before taking up the retail customer role he was head of KiwiSaver and insurance for AMP.
Legacy products, meanwhile, now fall under Aaron Klee in the new position of general manager investment management and services. Previously, Klee was AMP head of investment management – a job he transitioned to from head of intermediaries last year.
Relative newcomer to the AMP business, Debbie Gyde, also steps up from the head of enterprise sales and relationships gig to general manager customer partnerships. Prior to joining AMP in March 2021, Gyde spent just over a year as general manager corporate for Helloworld Travel NZ following almost 20 years in senior Air NZ sales roles.
Air NZ is the cornerstone corporate client for the NZRT, representing about a third of the total funds under management on the master trust.
According to an AMP spokesperson, the new executive bench reflects the group’s “growing our business following the transformation of our investment and customer proposition in 2021”.
New figures released by the AMP ASX-listed parent company last week show the NZ wealth management business lost some ground during the September quarter despite eking out net inflows of A$23 million for the three-month period.
The flagship KiwiSaver product garnered net inflows of A$71 million over the quarter but investment losses (and other adjustments including currency depreciation against the Australian dollar used for reporting purposes) knocked A$226 million off. Total AMP KiwiSaver funds under management (FUM) slid from A$4.9 billion at the end of June to just over A$4.7 billion three months later.
However, the remaining AMP NZ superannuation and legacy products reported collective net outflows of A$48 million during the three months to September 30 and other losses of A$213 million leaving overall FUM of A$5 billion.
AMP declined to comment on “market speculation” that the group was seeking to offload some legacy products including the NZRT.
Across the Tasman, the Australian AMP business reported some improvements in net outflows from wealth management products, growth in the banking arm and a steady decline in its rump fund management business.
Alexis George, AMP chief, said in a release: “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 – a key strategic focus for AMP.
“In the fourth quarter, we have already launched our digital mortgage and unique-to-market retirement offer.”
AMP share price closed down about 2 per cent at A$1.16 last Friday but still above its October low-point of A$1.05 and all-time nadir of A$0.85 clocked earlier this year.