(Australia) – New AMP chief executive Andrew Mohl has pressed ahead with his restructuring of the troubled funds management and life insurance group, announcing global job cuts and flagging the writedown of key assets.Mohl began with the announcement last week that 1,200 jobs would be lost across the whole group, in addition to the 1,500 positions that the company has already targeted for redundancy in the embattled UK operations.
Mohl’s “five point” plan also includes the winding down of AMP’s banking unit, which – despite losing A$157.5 million since 1998 – has improved its recent performance.
AMP banking operations will be closed outside of Australia, where it will continue to operate in a scaled back form.
AMP also announced it anticipates A$1.2 billion worth of asset writedowns on key international assets, the bulk of them in the UK.
Around A$850 million of that A$1.2 billion is expected to come from the UK Financial Services division, of which A$600 million will relate to funds and pensions group National Provident Institution.
The company’s review of its UK operations is continuing, and further announcements are expected in November.