Wealth management giant AMP has defended a post-earnings share price tumble, instead asking investors to look to its future.
Asked about the more than 25 per cent share price drubbing in February when it reported an 11 per cent fall in full-year profit, chair Mike Hirst said it had been a particularly volatile reporting season.
"If you have a look at CSL and other firms ... Temple and Webster and others, you didn't have to do much wrong to have an outsized reaction," Mr Hirst told shareholders at AMP's annual meeting in Sydney on Friday.
"Some people felt that the outlook wasn't as positive as it could have been, although I note that all of the analysts who cover us currently have a share price of around $1.80 on the stock."
AMP shares rose 2.3 per cent to $1.34 following the meeting, during which new chief executive Blair Vernon outlined his key priorities: organic growth, capital discipline and the adoption of artificial intelligence.
"There is simply no sideline position to take in this disruptive moment," AMP's former chief financial officer told shareholders.
"Most of our people are using AI regularly, with 84 per cent using our core AI tools on a weekly basis, so our focus right now is on enhancing the productivity gains with specific training and support for our people."
AMP has been deploying the technology in contact centres for transcription and quality checking, to automate corporate functions and for note-taking in its super and pension wrap platform, North.
"This is just the start, and we'll continue to leverage our deep knowledge and experience in retirement, along with the new technology to create seamless experiences and intuitive tools for advisors and our members," Mr Vernon said.
Continued innovation in North, which assists advisors to manage client portfolios and superannuation, helped draw 120 advisors to the platform in the previous year, AMP's chair said.
"North continues to gain momentum with new-to-platform and existing financial advisors, which is translating into industry recognition and improving net cash flows in our superannuation and investments business," Mr Hirst said.
"We delivered strong investment performance with the majority of members receiving top quartile returns."
Mr Hirst conceded the medium-term outlook for broader financial markets had been clouded by the energy price shock and subsequent inflation fears sparked by the Middle East conflict.
"It's the volatility, I think, that's the key impact, and I think it's important that people try and see their way through that volatility by riding out the storm," he said.
"Who knows how long it's going to last? Hopefully it doesn't go for too much longer .... but if I really knew the answer to that, I'd be extremely wealthy."
Shareholders also raised concerns about the group's retail banking offering and its AMP Bank Go app, following on from previous analysts' questions about why AMP needed to offer banking services.
"The platform we've picked up for Bank Go is a proven platform from the UK, which is also now operating in other countries overseas," Mr Hirst said.
The fall in AMP's 2025 bottom-line net profit to $133 million was the latest in a string of declines since 2022, when it made a profit of $387 million.
