Australian financial services firm AMP Ltd said on Friday it had been charged with a A$24 million ($16.28 million) fine by the federal court for billing thousands of dead clients for insurance and financial advice.

The penalty ordered by the court was under proceedings brought forward by the country's corporate regulator, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), in 2021 against AMP trustees – AMP Super and NM Super, AMP Financial Planning, AMP Life and AMP Services.

AMP had disclosed in 2018 that it had charged thousands of customers for financial advice it never gave, despite knowing they had deceased as it had no system in place to prevent dead clients from being billed.

The company said the court has charged AMP Life and AMP Financial Planning with the fine.

The penalty handed down was fully provisioned for by the company in its financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, AMP said.

($1 = 1.4743 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Riya Sharma in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)