Sean O’Malley

AMP Bank is re-launching SuperEdge, its residential Self Managed Super Fund (SMSF) lending solution, marking the Bank’s return to SMSF property lending for brokers and their customers.

With more than $1 trillion in assets under management and over 1.2 million members, SMSFs are a major part of our retirement system. Many trustees, particularly pre-retirees, want to invest with greater control and confidence, while maintaining the flexibility and liquidity they need as retirement approaches.

SuperEdge will meet that need, providing a transparent, well-governed lending option delivered through brokers and directly through AMP Bank’s home lending specialists, and supported by a strong credit and compliance framework.

It also includes practical features that reflect how SMSF trustees manage cash flow and risk – including flexible repayment options and an optional SMSF offset facility – alongside a broker-first digital experience designed to reduce rework and speed up decisions.

Sean O’Malley, AMP Bank’s Group Executive, said AMP Bank’s return to SMSF lending is about providing greater choice at a time when retirement planning is becoming more complex.

“Australians approaching retirement are balancing two competing pressures – enjoying life today, while making sure they’ll have enough for tomorrow. That tension is driving demand for solutions that offer more control, flexibility and confidence.

“SMSF trustees want to retire on their terms – but without the right structure and support, those decisions can become harder. SuperEdge is designed to provide trustees with a competitive, transparent and responsible lending option as they build long-term wealth.

“As a challenger bank, we’re thinking differently about lending – using clearer policy settings and smarter digital checks to deliver a better experience, while staying focused on long-term customer outcomes.”

Michael Christofides, AMP Director of Lending & Everyday Banking, said SuperEdge is built around the realities of SMSF lending – for both brokers and trustees.

“SuperEdge combines practical features, like flexible repayments and an optional offset, with a digital broker experience that helps reduce friction and improve turnaround times.

“We’ve built in automated SMSF structure checks and document validation to help cut rework – while maintaining strong responsible lending settings.”

SuperEdge is currently in a pilot testing phase, with broader market availability targeted for Q1 2026.

Product features

• Flexible repayments: Principal & Interest or Interest-Only (up to five years) supported by a documented transition plan.
• Optional offset facility: Supports SMSF cash flow management while maintaining asset separation.
• Broker-first digital experience: Lodge and track applications in one place, with automated SMSF structure checks, LRBA prompts and document validation to reduce rework and speed up decisions.
• Fees: competitive flat fees that include offset flexibility.

Responsible lending settings

• Available to corporate trustee structure only
• Maximum LVR of 80%
• Minimum SMSF net assets of $300,000
• Liquidity test: requiring ≥10% liquid assets post-settlement
• Property location restrictions: Zones 1 & 2 (residential only; no off-the-plan, construction, rural or commercial securities, and no owner-occupied use)

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Michael Christofides

Following the RBA’s decision to decrease the official cash rate by 0.25%, AMP Bank is reducing interest rates across all variable rate home loans by 0.25% per annum (pa) effective 2 June 2025 for customers.

We will continue to offer a range of competitive options for customers looking for both at call savings and term deposits, including rates of up to 4.70% pa*^ on the AMP Saver account and Term Deposit rates up to 4.50% pa.^

Michael Christofides, AMP Bank’s Director, Lending & Everyday Banking said: “We’re pleased to pass on this rate reduction to our customers, helping to ease some of the financial pressure many are feeling.

“We remain committed to supporting our customers through changing economic conditions, and we encourage anyone experiencing financial difficulty to reach out – our team is here to help.”

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* Up to 4.70% pa ongoing variable rate from 23 May 2025 on balances up to $500,000. Offer is limited to one account per person. For any portion of the balance over $500,000 and up to $5,000,000 the interest rate reverts to the standard rate only. The maximum ongoing balance per customer name is $5,000,000.
^Interest rates are variable and subject to change.

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Michael Christofides

Key points:

• The innovative new home loan is available to eligible borrowers including retirees, pre-retirees, investors and owner-occupiers
• AMP Bank becomes the first retail bank in Australia to offer this home loan for new and existing owner-occupiers
• Unlike typical products which require reassessment after five years, this home loan provides greater certainty and stability for the full interest-only term

AMP Bank has launched a 10-year interest-only home loan with no mid-term reassessment, providing customers with more choice, long-term financial flexibility and greater control over their cashflow.

The new loan is now available to eligible borrowers, including retirees, pre-retirees, investors, and owner-occupiers.

The offer seeks to address the changing needs of consumers, especially retirees and pre-retirees who are seeking additional cashflow for one off large expenses, or enhance their quality of life in retirement.

Michael Christofides, Director of Lending & Everyday Banking, AMP Bank, said: “In the past 20 years, the number of Australians aged 55 to 64 who own their homes outright has significantly decreased. Consequently, more people are carrying debt into retirement – a trend set to continue.

“While paying off a mortgage early is often advisable, maintaining flexibility and unlocking property equity can be beneficial, especially in the early years of retirement when many underspend out of fear of outliving their savings.

“For some retirees, the reality is that increasing equity in their property offers no felt benefit; instead, they could use additional cashflow to enhance their quality of life.

“Our new interest-only loan is a simple solution designed to provide this optionality and financial flexibility for retirees and pre-retirees.”

Features and benefits

10-year interest-only term: A decade of interest-only repayments, offering long-term cashflow support.

No mid-term reassessment: Unlike typical products which require reassessment after five years, the loan provides greater certainty and stability for the full interest-only term.

Flexible eligibility: Available to a wide range of borrowers, including retirees, pre-retirees, self-employed individuals, owner-occupiers, investors, and rent-vestors.

Financial confidence: Enables longer-term strategic financial planning, whether it’s unlocking home equity in retirement or supporting investment goals in earlier life stages.

Quality of life in retirement: Helps older Australians retain equity in their home, remain in their home, while unlocking cashflow to improve quality of life.

Empowers younger buyers: Provides an alternative pathway into the property market, particularly for younger Australians through rent-vesting strategies.

Simplified administration: Reduces paperwork and ongoing reassessment burdens, especially helpful for those with non-traditional income sources.

New financial realities

Generational change: Census data from 1991, 2006 and 2021 shows that home ownership, for those aged between 25–39 years has decreased in each successive generation[1]

Rising debt in retirement: 9 in 10 Australians over 50 believe they’ll still be paying off a mortgage in retirement[2]

Desire to stay put: 4 in 5 Australians aged 65+ aren’t willing to downsize to pass wealth to their children, yet nearly half of those aged 50+ would consider releasing home equity if they could remain in their home[3]

Wealth unspent: 90% of all intergenerational wealth transferral occurs through death inheritance[4], indicating a lack of retiree spending and financial confidence

Loan specifications

Interest-only period: customers may apply for up to a 10-year interest-only period without the need for credit re-assessment after the initial 5 years.

Serviceability assessment: Borrowers’ capacity to repay will be evaluated based on the remaining principal and interest term after the interest-only period.

Exit strategy: Borrowers approaching retirement, already retired and / or aged 60+ are required to meet the Bank’s exit strategy policy.

Maximum loan-to-value ratio (LVR):

• A maximum LVR of 80% applies to Interest-only products.
• To safeguard owner-occupiers during market fluctuations, where interest-only terms of 6-10 years are requested and the interest-only repayments portion of the borrowing exceed 50% of total owner-occupied borrowing, the maximum LVR is capped at 70%.
• For Investment Interest-Only loans, the maximum LVR remains at 80% regardless of interest-only term.

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Notes:
[1] Retirement Income Review, 2020
[2] AMP-commissioned research, Dynata, 2023
[3] AMP-commissioned research, Dynata, 2024
[4] Wealth Transfers and Their Economic Effects, Productivity Commission, 2021

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Melissa Christy

AMP Bank has announced the appointment of Melissa Christy as Head of Lending Operations and Client Assist.

Melissa joins AMP Bank’s leadership team with more than 23 years’ experience in financial services, having previously led the home lending business at 86 400, where she designed, developed, launched and grew the mortgage business to more than A$1.3bn.

Melissa’s experience in working with technology focused partners and vendors will be highly valuable in delivering AMP Bank’s growth strategy.

This strategy includes strengthening the Bank’s home lending proposition for customers and brokers, and its transformation into a technology- enabled, service-led business. Automated, digital self-service is central to this approach.

AMP Bank’s Director of Home Lending, Michael Christofides said: “We are delighted to have Melissa join at such an exciting time for AMP Bank, where we have a clear strategy in place and fantastic opportunity to grow.

“Strengthening our technology offer for both customers and brokers is a pillar of our strategy and Melissa’s proven technology expertise will be invaluable.

“Melissa will be able to build on the significant progress we’ve already made, with our simplified bank platform architecture and modernised core system delivering ~35% improvement in productivity and 70% increase in home loan origination.

“Melissa is passionate about making a difference in the mortgage industry, continuing to strengthen the service and support we provide to brokers and financial advisers, and helping our customers with one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives.”

Prior to 86 400, Melissa held leadership and strategy focused roles at Virgin Money, St George and Westpac, and start-up online banks in the UK.

Melissa commenced with AMP Bank on 31 January 2022.

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Mr Herbert is an experienced leader with deep knowledge of the third-party broker channel, having spent more than 25 years in the industry. Mr Herbert was previously the Head of Lending Distribution at MyState Bank, and prior to that, CEO at The Rock Building Society. He brings strong experience in transformation and distribution, having also held roles at Westpac, RAMS and GE Money.

The appointment supports AMP Bank’s objective to broaden its reach while maintaining focus on the broker channel, expanding in key locations. Mr Herbert will be based in Brisbane, and the Bank is currently recruiting to further strengthen its state team in Victoria.

AMP Bank is also continuing its engagement with brokers and advisers through virtual webinars. Initiated as a way of connecting and sharing expertise during COVID-19, the webinars share market insights, policy and credit updates from AMP and industry experts.

At the same time, AMP Bank is investing in its technology and service enhancements, with ongoing focus on automation and digitalisation to make the home loan application process easier for both customers and brokers. Most recently, this includes the simplification of verification of identity requirements.

Mr Herbert will be focused on driving continued mortgage growth, strengthening the Bank’s service offering for brokers and advisers, and ensuring it continues to be easy to do business with AMP Bank.

Michael Christofides, General Manager, Home Lending, AMP Bank, said: “Paul is a highly-regarded financial services leader with extensive experience in strategy development, sales management and people leadership.

“We know service levels are a top priority for brokers and advisers, and Paul’s appointment will be helping us continue to deliver best in class solutions and support.”

Paul Herbert, Head of Intermediary Distribution and Governance, AMP Bank, said: “I look forward to building on AMP’s strong track record, working closely with brokers and advisers.

“Human connection is critical to the way brokers support their clients, which is why I’ll be placing a strong focus on culture and deepening relationships with our broker and adviser partners.”

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The pandemic has pushed more Aussies to think about their personal finances.

While globally the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a huge economic shake up, it has also had far reaching impacts for Aussies in relation to their own personal finances. With this in mind, AMP has commissioned new research to unveil both the long and short-term impacts of the current crisis on everyday Australians – from day-to-day spending to major financial decisions including retirement, buying property and more.

The new research found that two-thirds of Australians (67 per cent) have had their finances impacted by COVID-19, with nearly half (49 per cent) of those surveyed predicting it will take at least three months to get their financial goals back on track.

AMP Bank, Director of Retail Solutions & Direct Distribution Michael Christofides commented: “The pandemic has pushed more Aussies to think about their personal finances. With talks of the recession and consumer confidence down, it’s clear that many Australians have been impacted by COVID-19, including having to hold on making significant financial decisions from retirement to travel to buying property. We’re seeing Australians being more prudent with their saving and spending decisions, partially due to lockdown restrictions but also relating to a desire to be prepared for any future rainy days.”

A key theme of postponing financial goals is clear in the new research, specifically:

• 60 per cent of Aussies have delayed an overseas trip;
• Nearly a third (29 per cent) have postponed buying a car while the same percentage have had to push back a major event such as a wedding;
• Approximately a quarter of Australians (22 per cent) have had to postpone buying a home as well nearly a fifth (19 per cent) having to hold off on buying an investment property;
• 1 in 5 Australians have put off a career change due to COVID-19.

Consumer spending has clearly taken a hit with recent statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing the steepest decline in sales volumes since the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) in 2000. This is in line with AMP’s research which found that over a third (38 per cent) of Australians say they’ve cut back on spending across the board. In addition, a fifth of Aussies (21 per cent) noted they are spending less and putting more money towards saving and investing.

For those whose jobs were not impacted significantly by COVID-19, an increase in saving habits was also clear with nearly half of those surveyed (44 per cent) saying that they’ve been saving more money due to restrictions impeding Australians’ abilities to go out, socialise, travel and more.

Interestingly, while the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted how Australians live and spend, there is a hope of a silver lining with 39 per cent of Australians saying that while COVID-19 might have been a big shock, it’s given them the opportunity to plan for their futures and get their finances in order. Furthermore, 45 per cent of Australians are optimistic about their financial futures post COVID-19.

Christofides continues, “Now more than ever, Australians are conscious of the importance of saving and preparing for the unpredictable. There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has brought with it a number of challenges for Aussies but the challenging climate has given some the opportunity to take a step back and re-evaluate their personal finance journeys. Compared to earlier in 2020, there’s a sense that Aussies are taking this time to reset their financial goals and adopt more proactive financial behaviours both in relation to saving and discretionary spending.”

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New Year’s financial resolutions destined to fail: AMP.

With Christmas festivities coming to an end, many of us are now taking to think about new year’s resolutions and goals for 2018. Getting a handle on finances or setting financial goals is often high on the list, however most of us are destined to fail.

Recent research by AMP, a leading financial services organisation, has found three quarters of Australians will be starting the year without a defined and specified budget, which will make sticking to our new financial goals tricky.

Michael Christofides, Director of Retail Solutions at AMP Bank, said the findings are worrying as budgeting is a critical part to achieving financial security.

“Knowing what you earn, owe and spend gives your greater control over your money and lets you quickly identify areas where you could be saving.

“The problem is that many people mistakenly think they are too busy to budget.

“But perhaps this is because many of us are still using back of the envelope and time-consuming techniques to try and track our finances.”

According to AMP’s research, over a third of Aussies (34 per cent) believe budgeting is too much effort and almost one in five Aussies (19 per cent) say budgeting takes too much time.

“The problem is that many people mistakenly think they are too busy to budget” – Michael Christofides

Even if we do start off the year with good intentions – sitting down and creating an initial budget – over a quarter (27 per cent) of us won’t end up sticking to it.

The research also showed that regularly checking our bank accounts (47 per cent), paper (28 per cent) and excel (20 per cent) were the main ways we keep track of our budgets.

Mr Christofides said, “In this era of smart banking applications, Aussies don’t need to be spending time hunched over an excel spreadsheet – not when an application or smart bank account can do all the work for you with far greater accuracy, giving you far greater control.”

So maybe this year, if we are to meet our financial New Year’s resolutions, we should look to use technology to help us. Not only will it take away the time and effort of budgeting, it will help us to achieve our financial goals and resolutions in 2018.

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Two-thirds of Aussies suffer from ‘post-purchase blues’ .

A new study from AMP, a leading financial services organisation, has revealed over two-thirds (69 per cent) of Aussies suffer from ‘post-purchase blues’ – the feeling of regret, worry or remorse after purchasing a product or service.

With a record $50bn1 expected to be spent this  Christmas, the research suggests more and more Aussies could be singing the  blues this Christmas as overspending, impulse purchases and a lack of budgeting  create a perfect storm.

According to AMP’s research:

• More than half of Aussies (56% per cent) have no idea how much they spent on Christmas presents last year
• Almost three quarters (71 per cent) of Aussies admit to spending more than they can afford
• An overwhelming 88 per cent admit  to making impulse purchases, with fashion (51 per cent) and electronics (32 per  cent) topping the list of most common impulse purchases.

Michael Christofides, Director of Retail  Solutions at AMP Bank, says the findings provide just another good reason why we  should all look to be more engaged with our finances.

“Christmas is about gift giving and  celebration and it’s very easy to get caught up in the moment,” says Mr Christofides.  “We might see an item that would make the perfect gift for a friend or family  member that’s a little bit over our budget but make the purchase anyway.

“More than half of us feel excited when we make an impulse purchase. But the initial euphoria seems short-lived for most  as 70 per cent of people regret their purchases.

“With over half of Australians not knowing how  much they spent on Christmas gifts last year, our impulse habits are setting us  on course for more overspending again this silly season.”

Who are the main sufferers?

While an alarming number of Aussies will come to regret their Christmas purchases once they check their bank balance, it’s  the younger demographic that is likely to be truly remorseful this Christmas, with 87 per cent of 18-24 year olds experiencing the post-purchase blues.

Women are also more likely to suffer from post  purchase blues than men, with 79 per cent experiencing regret following a purchase,  compared to 60 per cent of men

How to  cure the post-purchase blues?

The simple answer is better money management.  AMP Bank’s Mr Christofides believes we need to get better at being aware of our  impulse habits and how they impact our budgets.

“The good news is that there’s a range of  technologies out there to help Australians take control of their finances. Our  recently launched Bett3r smart bank account, is a good example of what’s possible. It proactively and automatically moves your money between  pay, save and spend accounts, helping you better manage your money and know what’s safe to spend so you can avoid impulse spending and suffering from post-purchase blues!”

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