Fourth AMP class action hits

AMP has been hit with a fourth shareholder class action over the scandals revealed at the banking royal commission and the resulting damage to the embattled financial giant’s market value.

Law firm Slater and Gordon said it had filed proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia, adding that it will act on a nowin, no-fee basis.

AMP - which has admitted charging customers for financial advice that was never given and subsequently lying to the corporate watchdog about its behaviour - is also facing class actions from law firms Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Phi Finney McDonald and Shine Lawyers.

There is also one potential proceeding lingering from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers which has previously said it will charge a 12.5 per cent commission on successful completion of the case.

Slater and Gordon has said that hundreds of mum and dad investors and dozens of institutions have contacted the law firm and were “rightly furious” about AMP’s conduct.

The revelations at the royal commission sent AMP shares to a six-year low, stripping more than $2 billion off its market value.

They also triggered the departure of AMP chief executive Craig Meller and chairwoman Catherine Brenner. Slater and Gordon says the class action is open to investors who acquired shares in AMP between June 7, 2012, and April 15, 2018.