AMP sold on Kiwi technology

By GREG ANSLEY

SYDNEY - Swimming against the tide of popular perception, AMP chief executive Paul Batchelor yesterday painted New Zealand as a leader in developing and accepting new technology.

Basking in growth that has lifted the group's New Zealand profit to $A50 million ($60.68 million) a year, Mr Batchelor said that being small gave the country a distinct 21st century advantage.

"We see that in the surveys we do of our people," he said.

"There is actually a positive cultural bias in New Zealand. New Zealanders have a brighter outlook on life than Australians, and Australians have a brighter outlook on life than do people in the UK. New Zealand has a can-do culture."

Mr Batchelor said this allowed AMP to test ideas in the country.

The group had used internationally New Zealand technologies, such as the intranet and customer service systems developed by AMP Henderson Global Investments.

"We look at New Zealand and our business there to be a bit of an innovator," Mr Batchelor said.

"I saw [the Henderson technologies] a year and a half ago and said these are unbelievable - why aren't we using these worldwide?

"We are now," he said.

Mr Batchelor said New Zealand operations, excluding banking, returned combined net after-tax profit of $A24.5 million for the six months to June 30.

Mr Batchelor said renewed growth in superannuation savings had more than doubled AMP Financial Services' net policy cashflow in New Zealand to $110 million in the June year.

AMP superannuation trusts net inflows of $236 million were more than three times those of its nearest rival - giving it a leading 15.6 per cent share of superannuation trusts net assets under management.

Mr Batchelor said Henderson Global Investors managed more than $10 billion in New Zealand. It had developed the $185 million Botany Town centre at East Tamaki, Auckland, and gained a new tax ruling ensuring that its WiNZ fund would continue to pay no tax on shares .

The group's New Zealand banking assets were $A2.2 billion. Customer deposits grew 57.3 per cent to $A380 million in the past 12 months.

AMP is negotiating the sale of General Insurance NZ as part of the group's decision to quit the sector.