Adviser productivity must improve to lift the number of practitioners and make advice more financially attractive to consumers, AMP CEO Craig Meller says.

He told a Senate Economics References Committee hearing on financial advice the bigger players such as AMP “are likely to be the leaders, because we have the financial capacity to invest in the systems, the processes and the people to deliver” productivity improvements.

“If that can be achieved, then I would expect to see a growth in adviser numbers but also much greater acceleration in the number of people receiving advice, because of the efficiency that can go into the system.”

Mr Meller was responding to Liberal senator Sean Edwards, who asked if the “rabid period of acquisition of advisers” is over.

“Given your employment contract is probably for sustained growth, where do you grow your company from now, without acquisition?” Senator Edwards asked.

Mr Meller says AMP’s focus is on improving quality of advice and the productivity of advisers.

Senator Edwards asked if AMP advisers are going to be tertiary qualified, and if the company will be “an inspirational employer for people coming into this industry”.

“Essentially, because of the scale of our organisation, no one brings more people into the industry than AMP,” Mr Meller said.

“We train people to a higher standard. We spend more money on investing in advice processes. That enables us to deliver more advice to people cost-effectively.”