Aleks VickovichReporter

Feb 15, 2020 — 12.00am

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AMP chief executive Francesco de Ferrari has doubled down on the one stop shop financial services model as the key to its rehabilitation even though it heavily criticised by the Hayne royal commission.

The boss of the embattled group outlined his vision for a combined wealth management, mortgage and retail banking business, earning a bouquet from one of AMP's staunchest analyst critics and a welcome boost to its share price.

"This year we will take our first steps in developing a whole of wealth banking and super offer to deliver benefits to our clients," Mr De Ferrari told a media briefing in Sydney.

The strategy is at odds with the big four banks, who are largely abandoning the one stop shop model after it was slammed by the royal commission for fostering of cross-selling excesses, conflicts and abuses.

"If you want to provide adviceyou have to look at the overall picture," said AMP CEO Francesco DeFerrari. David Rowe

Shares in AMP rebounded on Friday, rising 1.49 percent by 3pm after Bell Potter analyst Lafitani Sotiriou switched hisrecommendation to 'Buy' for the first time in four years.

The upgrade followed AMP's handing down of a $2.47 billion statutory loss for the 2019full year on Thursday, accompanied by a rare corporate update on the company'sturnaround project.

The message shone new light on the thinkingbehind the merger of AMP's banking and wealth managementdivisions into a single unit under the leadership of Alex Wade,announced in October 2019.

Speaking to The Australian FinancialReview, the CEO elaborated on his "whole of wealth" vision,confirming speculation that the end goal is to roll mortgage customers into itssoon-to-be-revamped superannuation suite, and grow its residential loan bookwith referrals from in-house financial advisers.

"Ultimately it boils down to if you arereally trying to build a client-centric business that is solving clientproblems, then it is very difficult to … limit [the discussion] tosuperannuation," Mr De Ferrari said.

"If you really want to provide advice youhave to look at the overall picture - whole of wealth - because that will drivedifferent solutions to if you are just focusing on a single product."

He made the point that 60 per cent of Australianinvestor assets are in real estate, suggesting financial advice that omitsconsideration of the nation's most popular asset class cannot be trulyholistic.

The strategy resembles the financial supermarket push pursued bythe big four banks and pioneered by AMP chairman David Murray when he was chiefexecutive of the Commonwealth Bank in the early 2000s.

AMP spokespeople emphasised that the whole ofwealth strategy is part of the troubled company's pledge to put customer needsfirst, having been accused of putting profit over people.

But it also opens the door to criticism that AMPhas re-committed to the vertical integration model and system of cross-selling ofin-house products not in customers' best interests.

Mr De Ferrari said he was conscious of notletting history repeat itself.

"We need to ensure that what we are givingthe client is best of breed solution and therefore we have to be transparent asto how we go about selection and if it is an inhouse product, that it ispassing the best interests test," he said, when asked about the risks offurther integrating the models.