AMP advisers fall short on higher education standards

Speaking to media following the company's full-year financial results for 2015, Mr Meller said "around a third" of its advisers already meet the standards outlined by the federal government's higher education and professional standards legislation.

This leaves two-thirds of the company's current network of 3,657 advisers — down from 3,844 on the previous year — falling short on the proposed requirements.

However, Mr Meller said he believes the company will be able to bring all its advisers up to speed before the new standards come into effect.

"We are confident that we will be able to move the two-thirds that currently don't [meet the requirements] to a position where they are in time for the introduction of the new standards," he said.

Mr Meller also said he expects "modest growth" in the company's adviser numbers, of which half will continue to come through the AMP Horizons program and the others to be directly recruited into the business.

He added that technology and automation will play a much bigger role in helping its advisers become more productive.

"When we look at our cash inflows and our cash outflows last year, both were down in a relative sense and that's because we think the changes in regulation and advisers having to adapt their businesses... has meant that they have not had the same amount of time available to meet with clients," Mr Meller said.

"So, our focus is very much on how do we design and deliver greater productivity and improvements to our advisers that they individually can see more customers than they can now," he said.