AMP revs up bank brand

AMP on Sunday will kick off a fresh brand campaign for its banking business, a sign of the revived importance of the bank to AMP after years of restricted investment. AP secured its banking licence in the late 1990s.

AMP Banking's head of strategy, Robert Slocombe, told the Herald Sun: "It is a large campaign for the bank and one of the biggest marketing spends in more than five years.

"It's an interesting time to be going back into the market. We have a very strong brand and it's appropriate given the aspirations for the bank to be out there raising deposits."

AMP has increased market share quickly over the last year or so, especially in residential mortgages, as the bank's used mortgage brokers to fill the void created as mortgage managers dependent on securitisation lost access to funding. AMP's market share in this segment now exceeds three per cent.

The bank also has a deposit strategy in mind.

"We've cleaned out our product range," Slocombe told the newspaper.

"The strategy now is about organic growth - it's about raising deposits and recycling those funds into our mortgage business."

AMP will promote a transaction account dubbed "AMP First" that will carry a relatively high interest rate of 4.35 per cent. The product is being targeted at the young adult market.