An Australian financial services company that offers superannuation and investment products, insurance, financial advice, and banking products has divested its fledgling venture capital arm in a bid to improve overall performance.
AMP has decided to close its New Ventures fund three months after it announced that it would book $1.168 billion in impairment and other one-off charges in the financial year ending June 30 due to “consistent deterioration” in the insurance market,
Reuters reported.
Australia’s life insurers have experienced declining business since the scandal over the use of discredited methods to refuse legitimate claims for insurance payouts broke out in March.
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National Australia Bank Ltd sold an 80% stake in its life insurance business to Japan’s Nippon Life Insurance Co for $2.4 billion last year, while the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd is seeking to sell its insurance and wealth arm for $4.5 billion.
Founded in 2015, AMP’s New Ventures fund had five employees, and had invested in three small companies, including $1 million in online brokerage Macrovue Pty Ltd and over $1.5 million in personal finance mobile app Money Brilliant Pty Ltd.
An AMP spokesman said the fund would not make any further investments in startups to support the company’s broader focus of improving performance in the short term.
“We have a strong portfolio of existing investments and our current focus is on maximising the benefits from these,” the spokesman told
Reuters.
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