AMP has announced the appointment of Melinda Howes as group executive, superannuation and investments, and member of the group executive committee, to commence officially on 29 January 2024.
Ms Howes brings more than three decades of experience in superannuation and insurance to the role, joining AMP from KPMG, where she has worked since April 2022.
At KPMG, she consulted across its superannuation, insurance and actuarial practices while serving as partner, actuarial, financial risk and analytics, superannuation.
Before this, Ms Howes was managing director of superannuation for BT Financial Group, where she delivered a three-year business simplification program.
She has also previously held senior roles at AMP, as well as with the Actuaries Institute and the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia.
According to AMP, Ms Howes will spearhead its combined superannuation-master trust and investments businesses. Overall, she will drive the strategy for AMP’s super business, as well as oversee investment performance and management.
AMP chief executive Alexis George commented: “I’m very pleased we have secured a leader of Melinda’s calibre and experience to lead the management and investment performance of the retirement savings of our superannuation members.
“Melinda is a highly respected leader in the superannuation industry and will be able to build on the significant work we’ve undertaken in recent years to simplify and strengthen our offer for members,” Ms George added.
“She joins at a pivotal time for our industry, as we come together with government and regulators to ensure we do more to provide Australia’s growing number of retirees with the financial confidence to spend and enjoy their savings in retirement.”
Earlier this month, AMP reported net cashflows of $426 million for its platforms business during the third quarter, a fall of 43 per cent on the $748 million of net cashflows recorded in Q3 2022.
In a quarterly update to the ASX last week, AMP said this decline was “predominantly driven by the reduction in non-superannuation investment in response to the current economic conditions”.
In the firm’s master trust business, negative net cashflows of $4.9 billion were declared for the quarter, compared to negative net cashflows of $722 million in the same period a year earlier. AUM fell from $55.4 billion in Q3 2022 to $50.3 billion in Q3 2023.
“As we confirmed at [our] half-year results, the transfer of a master trust mandate loss in August was reflected in negative net cashflows and a decline in AUM,” Ms George noted last week.
