It also alleges they failed to secure an appropriate return on cash-only investment options, the firm continued.

The case is being funded by Therium Litigation Finance.

“Superannuation members trusted that AMP would act in their best interests when managing their retirement savings. Instead, they charged exorbitant fees,” Slaters senior associate Nathan Rapoport said.

“Both AMP Super and NM Super, as trustees of the funds, should have taken steps to secure the best deal for members on a commercial arms-length basis. Members whose funds were deposited in cash-only investment options were short-changed potentially thousands of dollars because they received interest rates below what a reasonable and diligent trustee could have obtained on the open market.”

The Royal Commission into Misconduct into the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry heard evidence, Slaters continued, of a particular group of AMP cash option members who received negative returns due to a combination of an un-competitive interest rate and excessive fees, “and the trustee was not even aware of this”, the firm noted.

“These customers would have been better off keeping their retirement savings under their bed,” Mr Rapoport said.

The action will claim compensation for this conduct dating as far back as 1 July 2008.

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This is the second class action to be filed as part of Slaters’ Get Your Super Back campaign, launched off the back of the banking royal commission in 2018, the firm said.

The news follows recent reporting by Lawyers Weekly that national firm Maurice Blackburn had beat out law firm competitors to lead the charge in a hotly contested shareholder class action against AMP, on the back of accusations that the financial giant provided false and misleading statements to the regulator and charged customers for services that were not provided.

In a statement, AMP said the proceedings would be “vigorously defended”.

“AMP and the trustees of its superannuation funds are firmly committed to acting in the best interests of their superannuation members and acting in accordance with legal and regulatory obligations. We encourage any customers who have concerns to contact AMP,” it said.

“We have reduced the administration fees on some of our cash investment options to address the issue of negative returns in the small number of funds impacted by this issue. We are also compensating affected customers for lost earnings.

“In 2018, we cut fees on our flagship MySuper products, benefitting approximately 600,000 existing customers as well as new customers, improving member outcomes. In 2019, we also cut fees to MyNorth.”

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NOTE: This story has been updated to include AMP’s statement, which was issued following the publication of the initial story.