Australia’s AMP says to simplify some services after job cuts report

(Reuters) – Australian financial planner AMP Ltd is centralising some business services in an effort to become “simpler”, the company said on Wednesday, following a media report that it planned to cut up to a fifth of some of its workforce.

The changes to the 160-year-old company follow years of scandal, with AMP this month putting under review all its assets, setting in motion a potential sale or break-up.

“AMP has made changes to its teams that will centralise some business services,” a representative told Reuters, without elaborating on the implications for jobs.

The changes would lead to layoffs as high as 20% in some business units, the Australian Financial Review said, citing a company source.

The 2019 annual report shows AMP has about 6,500 employees.

The veteran wealth manager recently ceded its position as the country’s largest to rival IOOF Ltd , which plans to buy MLC, the advice arm of National Australia Bank Ltd .

(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan and Aditya Munjuluru in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Byron Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)