Finance group ropes net loss of $344m

Despite the significant loss, the financial firm has recorded strong growth in its banking arm and mortgage book

Finance group ropes net loss of $344m

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Financial giant AMP has recorded significant losses for the quarter with its insurance arm eliminating strong growth in banking and mortgages.

The group experienced a drop in underlying profit to $486m and an overall net loss of $344m. This was largely due to challenges in the company’s insurance business, CEO Craig Meller said at the group annual general meeting yesterday (11 May).

For AMP’s banking arm, the mortgage book increased to $17.9bn at the end of the first quarter for 2017 – an increase from the $17.1bn recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.

Both AMP aligned advisor and mortgage broker channels experienced mortgage book growth during the quarter, although the bank failed to give exact figures in these areas.

Meller said that AMP bank was itself a “great growth story”.

“In 2016, the bank’s profits were up, net interest margin was wider and we drove above system growth in both residential home loans and deposits while tightening credit criteria.”

With a compound growth rate in profits of almost 18% over the past five years, the bank has held onto a market share of approximately 1%.

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