Investigation: Inside Alex Wade’s final month at AMP
Michael Roddan
Michael Roddan
National correspondent
Aug 9, 2020 – 3.13pm
The immediate, unexplained departure of Alex Wade, the chief executive of the sprawling AMP Australia division, was triggered by a series of complaints about his conduct, including allegations the former private banker had sent explicit photos to female colleagues.
For many women and men at AMP, the resignation of wealth management boss Mr Wade was long overdue.
Alex Wade was not seen again at the company’s Circular Quay headquarters after he handed in his resignation last week. Nick Moir
On Tuesday, those allegations were taken to AMP chief executive Francesco De Ferrari and went to the AMP board. Given the risk the media would probably find out about Mr Wade’s behaviour, Mr De Ferrari and AMP head of people and corporate affairs Helen Livesey called in Mr Wade to a meeting on that day. There, he was given 24 hours to submit his resignation.
Boe Pahari, the chief executive of AMP Capital, was pulled out of a scheduled board meeting on Tuesday to join an emergency meeting with the rest of AMP’s Global Leadership Team to discuss the matter.
Throughout Wednesday, an announcement was drawn up and Blair Vernon, AMP’s head of New Zealand wealth management, met with Mr Wade’s leadership team as he would be taking over with immediate effect. Mr Wade was not seen at the company’s Circular Quay headquarters in Sydney again.
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By late Wednesday, the news about Mr Wade was already filtering through the top levels of AMP’s 6000-strong staff, most of whom would learn about the resignation as it was filed to the market on Thursday morning.
Several AMP sources have confirmed that multiple complaints about Mr Wade had been made. An AMP spokesman declined to comment when asked how many complaints had been made and through which channels. AMP also declined to answer an extensive list of questions about the matter and associated issues.
“I arrived at my decision to resign from AMP in the interests of all parties,” a spokesman said on behalf of Mr Wade in response to a lengthy list of questions.
“My focus now is on a period of personal reflection and the relationships that are most important to me.”
There was more than one report, over time, and most recently a current employee said she’d go public if they didn’t take action.
— AMP staff member
A number of AMP staff have relayed their complaints about Mr Wade to The Australian Financial Review following revelations by this newspaper that the company promoted Mr Pahari to chief executive of the key asset management division on July 1, despite being penalised $500,000 after settling a sexual harassment claim brought by a female colleague who would leave the business in 2018.
These complaints have been brought forward both personally and through AMP’s whistleblower function to AMP’s senior management. The Financial Review had also been approached by half a dozen women who had felt the need to speak out on Mr Wade.
“Women spoke up (thanks to the recent coverage) and AMP has taken action,” one employee said.
“There was more than one report, over time, and most recently a current employee said she’d go public if they didn’t take action.”
Another said: “A number of complaints were made.”
The lack of explanation about the departure of Mr Wade, who only joined AMP in January 2019, has left staff feeling frustrated.
Controversial appointment: AMP Capital boss Boe Pahari. Reuters
Senior staff in internal AMP meetings have since refused to comment on employee questions, including one senior employee who told staff the situation was “like our last matter (Mr Pahari); they’re sensitive issues” in response to questions.
Town hall meetings
The debacle has once again turned the spotlight on AMP’s handling of employee concerns. During a virtual town hall meeting last month where staff expressed frustration at “AMP’s #MeToo moment”, Ms Livesey said there were “many people who are in AMPA [AMP Australia] who would say that there is behaviour that needs to be addressed in the organisation”.
In a subsequent all-staff email in July obtained by the Financial Review, Mr Wade admitted he had been too slow to overhaul “behaviours” in the company’s sprawling wealth and retail divisions, and said “we will do better, and I will do better”.
The departure of Mr Wade has several employees wondering about the response of other senior AMP leaders to the allegations.
Several AMP sources have said they are aware that senior leadership at AMP had previously discussed matters of conduct with Mr Wade.
But the focus has been on Mr Wade’s time at AMP, which he joined in early 2019. One AMP employee said Mr Wade was “known for chasing women at AMP” and had been personally propositioned by him on multiple occasions.
“He’s a senior man that should know better given his position and power within the organisation,” they said.
“He smokes and several times a day goes under the train tracks at the Quay, across from the AMP building. He’s often seen walking with women across there and that’s what he did with me. Women will turn up for an actual meeting, at a proper meeting time, and he’ll say: ‘Come for a quick smoke.’ ”
Following the company-wide revolt by its employees in early July, Mr De Ferrari pledged to establish a group-wide integrity office, a new “cultural taskforce” to boost female employees in leadership positions, and the appointment of consultants to help them achieve the goal.
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However, many have been waiting with bated breath as to whether the company would act on Mr Wade’s behaviour and performance at AMP.
Amid the furore surrounding Mr Pahari’s appointment on July 1, most members of AMP’s eight-member executive team held their own internal town hall meetings to discuss the matter with their direct staff.
Pahari fallout
Mr Wade was reluctant to hold his own, and stated a preference for sending an all-staff email in which he would not face a round of questioning, according to people familiar with the situation. However, the rest of Mr Wade’s leadership team convinced him to go through with one on Friday, July 3, when he fielded a number of stinging questions from junior staff members.
The fallout from the promotion of Mr Pahari opened divisions across AMP’s global leadership team.
He’s a senior man that should know better given his position and power within the organisation.
— AMP staff member
Although Mr Wade and Mr De Ferrari were long-time associates, and were often seen chatting together around the business, Mr Wade had a significant rivalry with Mr De Ferrari, according to numerous people who have worked with Mr Wade.
Mr Wade had worked at Credit Suisse in Singapore with Mr De Ferrari, and as a private banking executive at Credit Suisse Australia, where current AMP chairman David Murray was an adviser and fellow AMP director John O’Sullivan was once chairman.
Mr De Ferrari spent seven years as the head of Credit Suisse’s Asia-Pacific private banking operations, where Mr Wade served six years as chief of staff.
Mr Wade often referred to his boss as the “general on the hill”, in that Mr De Ferrari would send his men into battle while he watched on.
This was the case after Mr Wade’s town hall meeting, which he later described as “frank and honest” and during which he had to handle “tough questions” from subordinates.
While Mr Wade had to front staff in person, Mr De Ferrari that first week in July didn’t face questions from staff directly, preferring to deliver a scripted video message on AMP’s internal Facebook page late on July 3.
AMP CEO Francesco De Ferrari addresses staff via a virtual town hall.
Mr De Ferrari, who was meant to be on a week of leave the second week of July, having successfully divested its troublesome life insurance business, had to scrap those plans in the wake of the ructions.
On Monday, July 6, Mr De Ferrari was seen at the Circular Quay office for the first time in a long time, as he had been working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. He had dumped his holiday plans to work on the company’s response to the shareholder and employee backlash.
By mid-July, Mr Wade had told several people from his leadership team that the crisis had revealed the failings of Mr De Ferrari.
“He’s (Mr Wade) strutting around like a peacock,” one colleague said at the time.
Later that month, the Financial Review revealed accusations of “rife” bullying across AMP, based on first-hand reports, along with employee reviews and lowly survey results on workplace ratings website Glassdoor.
Around this time, Mr Wade was said to be openly blaming Mr De Ferrari for the pressure on AMP and telling his co-workers that both Ms Livesey and Mr Pahari should leave the business, having mishandled the fallout.
But for the staff inside AMP, they saw Mr Wade as increasingly out of touch on workplace culture – including when Mr Wade opened a July 27 internal town hall, known as an AMP Australia “culture huddle”, with a song by American rapper Post Malone, titled Rockstar, which was ranked by Time magazine as one of the worst songs of 2017, and which features lyrics focused on drugs, guns and prostitutes.
It wasn’t just staff and executives who had sometimes strained relations with Mr Wade. There was also friction between Mr Wade and consultants brought into AMP to overhaul the company’s legacy systems and operations.
Mr Wade’s division has also not performed well.
AFR roundtable on AMP and sexual harassment with (left to right from top left): Natasha Stott Despoja, Michael Roddan, Sue Morphet, Jane Keating, Jenny Bott, Sue Cato, Susan Metcalf, Kate Jenkins, Diane Smith-Gander, and Sue Thomas.
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AMP boss Francesco De Ferrari, with chairman David Murray, will be in the spotlight this week with the release of the company’s interim results on Thursday.
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Wealth management operating earnings went from $103 million in the first half of 2019 to $79 million in the second half. In an update late last month, which triggered a 12 per cent fall in AMP’s share price, the company said wealth management earnings were likely to fall to $60 million.
AMP is also facing a class action by aggrieved former financial advisers claiming the company dishonoured longstanding contract terms.
In fact, on the day AMP announced the changing of the contract terms – known as Buyer Of Last Resort – at an advice professional development day at the convention centre in Sydney, Mr Wade was escorted out through a private exit and into a car in the basement with personal security guards. Advisers were left waiting to ask questions of the executive.
With Mr Wade’s latest surprise departure, it is the staff that will be directing their remaining questions to other executives.
Michael Roddan is a Walkley Award-winning national correspondent based in Sydney. He is a former business and economics reporter for The Australian. Connect with Michael on Twitter. Email Michael at m.roddan@afr.com
Alex Wade extensive experience managing complex environments working across all facets of financial services in multiple jurisdictions and cultures
Alex Wade
Alex Wade – Instagram
Jonathan Poulton
