The Finance Sector Union of Australia (FSU) has lodged a dispute with AMP over the impact of the company’s changes to the Buyer of Last Resort (BOLR) arrangements.
These changes will severely disadvantage advisers leaving the industry who will have the selling price of their businesses reduced by AMP.
Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano said the FSU had triggered dispute resolution procedures after AMP announced the changes without consultation with its advisers or the union.
“Advisers are being told they will receive less than expected for their advice businesses and they are very unhappy with AMP,” Ms Angrisano said.
Ms Angrisano said the parties had seven days to resolve the dispute after which the matter would move to the Australian Disputes Centre before eventual court action if mediation was unsuccessful.
“These changes have been made by AMP without any notice to its advisers and could constitute a breach of contract,” she said.
The dispute notification with AMP will centre on a single adviser who notified the company of his intention to trigger the BOLR arrangements in March, with the intention of leaving at the end of October.
“AMP has a contractual obligation to give 13 months’ notice of a change to the valuation methodology but gave no such notice to its advisers,” Ms Angrisano said.
“These changes are going to have significant adverse impact on AMP advisers seeking to leave the industry in the future,” she said.
“AMP’s attempt to halve the business value by making unilateral and unfair changes to the BOLR arrangements will have a devastating financial impact on advisers and their families.”
