First Super supports ACSI action against AMP board, will vote shares accordingly

INDUSTRY superannuation fund First Super welcomed the decision by the Australian Council of Superannuation investors (ACSI) to formally recommend investors in AMP vote against the re-election of directors at the upcoming AMP AGM.

Commenting on the decision, First Super CEO Bill Watson urged other institutional investors to also follow the ACSI voting recommendation.

“We call on other superannuation funds, fund managers and proxy advisers to follow the lead of ACSI and send a message to the industry that the types of practices perpetrated by AMP and recently uncovered by the Royal Commission are unacceptable," Mr Watson said.

“First Super will vote its shares against the re-election of the three directors and calls on the rest of the board to seriously consider their individual and collective positions.”

Mr Watson said it was imperative the AMP board investigate and action how to recover bonuses paid to executives who presided over and permitted practices for which the board has now acknowledged and apologised for.

“The actions of AMP management and the atrocious governance failings that have recently come to light has had real world consequences for millions of hard working Australians. Shareholder value has been destroyed with the share price down 20 percent in the last month," he said.

“News today that the Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission submitting that is open to the Royal Commission to recommend criminal charges against AMP is yet another indication of distressing and unsustainable problems at that firm. 

“From an investor perspective the situation is profoundly disappointing and we need to see some accountability and reckoning.”

www.firstsuper.com.au

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