AMP Class Action Settlements: Super Fees, Commissions, and Shareholders

If you’ve received a notice about an AMP class action settlement, you’re likely covered by one of several proceedings tied to AMP’s conduct exposed at the 2018 Royal Commission. The two live matters are a $120 million settlement for superannuation members over excessive fees, awaiting Federal Court approval after an April 2026 hearing, and a $29 million settlement for financial advice clients over conflicted commissions, with a final approval hearing set for 23 October 2026. A separate $110 million shareholder settlement has already been paid out and the case dismissed.

The $120 Million AMP Super Fees Settlement

This is the largest of the AMP settlements and the one most people receiving notices in 2025 and 2026 are part of. The proceeding, run jointly by Maurice Blackburn and Slater and Gordon in the Federal Court, alleges that AMP’s superannuation trustees let related AMP Group entities set fees that weren’t negotiated at arm’s length, failed to check whether those fees were competitive, never considered cheaper third-party providers, and left members’ money sitting in cash-only options that earned low returns.¹²

Who’s in the Class

Membership covers more than two million people. You’re included if you held an AMP superannuation account (other than a Platform Fund or Mature Product) during either of these windows:

From 1 July 2008, if you were a member of the AMP Superannuation Savings Trust, AMP Retirement Trust, or the Eligible Rollover Fund.
From 30 March 2011, if you were a member of the Super Directions Fund.

Eligible members were automatically included unless they opted out by 23 May 2025. No further sign-up is required.³

What You Might Receive

AMP is paying about $75 million of the $120 million directly, with insurance covering the rest. AMP made no admission of liability.¹

Individual payments will be calculated under a Draft Settlement Distribution Scheme that weighs account balance, how long you held a particular product, and total group size. Not every member will get a payment. Only those invested in specific “impugned products” on certain benchmark dates qualify for a share.⁴

Proposed deductions account for roughly half the fund: about $42.4 million in legal fees and disbursements, around $3.6 million in after-the-event insurance premiums, a funder commission of about 20% of the remaining amount (roughly $15–16 million) split between Therium and Harbour Fund III, about $180,000 in administration costs, and around $200,000 in reimbursements to lead applicants. The court-ordered notice guarantees total deductions will not exceed what a group member receives.⁴²

Where Things Stand

The Federal Court held the settlement approval hearing on 7 April 2026. As of mid-April 2026, judgment was reserved.⁵ If approved, an administrator will deposit payments into your current NMS superannuation account. If you no longer have one, your share goes to the Australian Taxation Office.⁴

The $29 Million AMP Commissions and Insurance Settlement

A separate action (VID 489 of 2020), run by Shine Lawyers and Piper Alderman with funding from Woodsford, targets financial advice rather than super fund fees. The respondents are AMP Financial Planning, Charter Financial Planning, Hillross Financial Services, AMP Limited, and Resolution Life Australasia (formerly AMP Life).⁶

The claim is that advisers at these firms recommended more expensive AMP Life insurance products when cheaper equivalent cover was available elsewhere, incentivised by commissions AMP paid between July 2014 and February 2021. It also alleges some advisers charged ongoing service fees for services they never delivered.⁶

Who Qualifies

Three conditions apply. You must have received personal advice from an authorised representative of AMP Financial Planning, Charter Financial Planning, or Hillross Financial Services; you must have acquired, renewed, or held an insurance or financial product on that advice; and you must have held a product on which commissions were paid between 23 July 2014 and 15 February 2021.⁷

Relevant products include AMP Life insurance policies such as Flexible Lifetime – Protection and AMP Flexible Super – Flexible Protection, and investment products including PortfolioCare and AMP MyNorth Super.⁷

Deadlines and Payment

The parties reached an in-principle $29 million settlement in December 2025, inclusive of costs and taxes, with no admission of liability.⁸ Woodsford is entitled to a success fee of the greater of 27.5% of gross proceeds or 3.5 times its cash outlay. Deferred legal fees carry a 25% uplift. What remains is distributed under a court-approved scheme.⁷

On 15 May 2026, the Federal Court approved distribution of settlement notices, with emails and postal notices to go out by 26 June 2026. If you registered by 4 July 2025, you have until 10 August 2026 to take the steps needed to be considered for payment. The same date is the deadline for lodging objections. The final approval hearing is set for 23 October 2026 in Melbourne.⁷

The $110 Million Shareholder Settlement (Already Paid)

If you held AMP shares between July 2015 and September 2018, the relevant proceeding is Komlotex Pty Ltd v AMP Limited, brought in the NSW Supreme Court. Shareholders alleged that AMP’s deliberate fees-for-no-service policy caused the share price to fall over that period.⁹

Acting Justice Elkaim approved the $110 million settlement on 14 November 2023, calling it “reasonable and in the interests of affected investors.” Only one of roughly 18,000 registered group members objected.⁹ After $26.2 million in legal costs, $1.13 million in administration costs, and $32,000 in plaintiff reimbursements, about $82.6 million was distributed to class members.¹⁰ Payments went out between May and November 2024, and the Court formally dismissed the proceedings on 19 February 2025.¹¹

Two Other AMP Actions Worth Knowing About

A Buyer of Last Resort action brought by financial advisers against AMP Financial Planning settled for $100 million, approved by the Federal Court on 6 September 2024. It concerned AMP’s decision to cut the purchase multiple for advice practices from 4 times to 2.5 times revenue. That settlement is for advisers, not clients or shareholders.¹²¹³

Shine Lawyers has also filed an ongoing group super insurance action against N.M. Superannuation, AMP Superannuation, and Resolution Life Australasia, alleging trustees selected insurance from related-party AMP Life when cheaper cover was available. It covers 30 June 2019 to April 2024. The proceeding is in its early stages with no settlement reported.¹⁴

Is the AMP Class Action Email Real?

Between April and May 2025, AMP super members started receiving emails about the class action, and many wondered whether the messages were scams. Slater and Gordon has confirmed the notices are legitimate and were ordered by the Federal Court of Australia.¹⁵

You can verify any notice against the Federal Court’s public register of class actions. Nothing legitimate will ask for upfront payment. Legal and funding costs come out of any eventual settlement, and the court has ordered that combined deductions cannot leave a group member worse off than the payment they receive.²

1
Yahoo Finance Australia. $120 Million Payout for Millions of AMP Customers Over Fees on Superannuation Retirement Savings
2
Federal Court of Australia. VID572 of 2019 Orders
3
Maurice Blackburn. AMP Super Fees Class Action
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Federal Court of Australia. VID572 of 2019 Notice of Proposed Settlement
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Slater and Gordon. AMP Super Class Action
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Piper Alderman. AMP Commissions Class Action
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Shine Lawyers. AMP Insurance Class Action
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Insurance News. AMP Reaches Commissions Lawsuit Settlement
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Capital Brief. Court Approves $110M Settlement in AMP Class Action
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Maurice Blackburn. Maurice Blackburn Secures $110M Settlement Success in AMP Shareholder Action
11
Maurice Blackburn. AMP Shareholder Class Action
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Maurice Blackburn. Representatives Entitled to Damages Due to AMP’s Policy Amendments
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Money Management. Verdict AMP BOLR Class Action Settlement
14
Shine Lawyers. AMP Group Super Class Action
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Slater and Gordon. Is It a Scam AMP Super Class Action