AMP Bank re-enters SMSF property lending after 8-year hiatus

“As a challenger bank, we’re thinking differently about lending – using clearer policy settings and smarter digital checks to deliver a better experience, while staying focused on long-term customer outcomes,” O’Malley said.

The SuperEdge scheme would be available to corporate trustee structures only, with a maximum loan-to-value (LVR) ratio of 80 per cent, minimum SMSF net assets of $300,000 and at least 10 per cent liquid assets post-settlement.

This marks AMP Bank’s second crack at launching SuperEdge. It first launched the product in 2012, but pulled out of the SMSF market in 2018 amid a broader banking sector exodus spurred by widespread compliance concerns.

As previously reported by Accounting Times’ sister brand Broker Daily, ASIC released a scathing report in 2018, which found that 90 per cent of SMSF advice did not comply with best interest obligations.

Since 2018, the broker sector has been subject to stricter controls. O’Malley said this had paved the way for AMP’s re-entry into the SMSF lending market.

“The learning and education and safeguards that exist in the broker industry now are much stronger than what they were in 2018,” he said.

“So that also gave us confidence to say we trust that those who are talking to clients about this being right for them actually have got much stronger education, much stronger licensing controls.”

O’Malley and Christofides added that SuperEdge had safeguards, including the 80 per cent maximum LVR and stronger background checks enabled by new technology.

“We're not doing construction, we're not doing off the plan, we're ensuring that there's only up to 80 per cent LVR. Those design features really mean that we're able to create a solution that's much safer than some of the solutions that are available in 2018, where it was maybe a little bit riskier,” O’Malley said.

“And then also the ability … to deliver a digital experience that does a lot of background checks in the background rather than relying on people. So ensuring that, you know, trust setups are done the right way. That wasn't available in 2018; it was a much more manual process.”

Christofides said that AMP’s offering was unique when compared with non-bank lenders, as it offered an offset option.

“There are many other options out there that exist in SMSF home loans, but very few that actually are issued by a bank,” he said.

“We're the only bank that's offering an SMSF home loan with an offset. I'd say there's a very clear policy with regards to liquidity and safeguards that are spelled out as part of our spec.”

He added that the pilot testing for SuperEdge had gone well so far, and AMP was looking forward to pushing forward with its broader rollout, targeted for the first quarter of 2026.

“We've had some good feedback already and we've seen our first application already go through approval and through to settlements,” Christofides said.

“So that's been great and we've learned about things we need to tweak and improve through that. I'm looking forward to taking it to scale and getting more feedback from more brokers and customers.”