Business strategy
Aware in growth mode after TelstraSuper merger, bucks outflow trend
The $237 billion megafund says that it’s ready for more mergers but that it won’t be a “buyer of complexity” in an already rapidly consolidating super system – even as it reverse the competitive outflow trend that has dogged profit-to-member super for years.
2026 Fiduciary Investors Symposium NSW
Why super could be a ‘1000-pound gorilla’ in a fragmented world
Australia’s superannuation funds have the financial weight to shape geopolitical outcomes but need to band together to avoid being “divided and conquered”, according to Tom Gregg, former senior UN official and mediator, and senior international adviser at Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check.
CIO Series
Funds SA goes ‘TPA-lite’ to break free from ‘benchmark slavery’
The $50 billion investment manager for the South Australian state government is moving towards a “lite” version of the total portfolio approach, with chief investment officer Con Michalakis determined not to miss a good investment opportunity just because it doesn’t fit into an asset class bucket.
2026 Fiduciary Investors Symposium NSW
Top allocators revisit China as AI race heats up
A panel of top allocators have conceded that it might be time to rethink underweights to China as the Asian superpower’s intensifying AI race with the US creates attractive opportunities and the line between government and the private sector blurs in the US.
21 July, 2026
Insurance in Super Summit
19 August, 2026
Retirement Leaders Summit
13 – 15 October, 2026
Fiduciary Investors Symposium
2026 Fiduciary Investors Symposium NSW
Why policymakers need to prepare for AI boom – and unrest
Economist and former RBA board member Warwick McKibbin told the Investment Magazine Fiduciary Investors Symposium that AI doomsayers aren’t grasping the economic opportunities it will create, but that policymakers still need to be prepared for social unrest arising from displacement of jobs by AI.
Leadership & profiles
GESB CEO calls time: ‘Past regime of default super’ no longer sustainable
GESB chief executive Ben Palmer is set to leave the Western Australian government super fund, ending a 13-year tenure after steering the fund through the most significant change in its history. In a rare interview, Palmer examines the past, present and future of super and explains why GESB is treating platforms, not profit-to-member funds, as its benchmark.
Profiles
Why HESTA’s ‘joined-up thinking’ is one of its CIO’s favourite things
Sonya Sawtell-Rickson joined HESTA as the health industry workers’ super fund was taking steps towards investment internalisation and a total portfolio approach. She says the moves have been vindicated not only by member returns but in the “joined-up” conversations the now-$96 billion fund has with the companies it invests in.
Retirement
CFS builds partnership alliance in retirement income push
Australia’s second-largest retail superannuation fund, the $136 billion Colonial First State, has pulled together a multi-partner model do deliver integrated retirement income solutions to members. CFS Superannuation chief executive officer Kelly Power tells Retirement Magazine the fund has responded primarily to the needs of members and demands of advisers, rather than directly to regulatory pressure arising from the Retirement Income Covenant.
Industry & regulation
Super complaints expected to reach 8000 in 2026: AFCA
Superannuation complaints to AFCA are on track to exceed 8000 this year, a second consecutive year of around 30 per cent increases. Heather Gray, who is retiring in May after six years as lead ombudsman for superannuation, told the authority’s Member Forum that the answer to reducing complaints lies in empowering funds’ IDR teams and communicating with complainants and AFCA early. The forum heard that handling unreasonable people is a critical skill.
Governance
Third HESTA exec heads for the door in less than 12 months
The departure of the $100 billion HESTA’s chief operating officer Stephen Reilly follows those of chief executive Debby Blakey and chief risk officer Andrew Major, and is part of a shake-up among the broader senior ranks of Australian super funds.
Industry & regulation
Treasury proposes sweeping YFYS changes to supercharge ’emerging asset classes’
Treasury is considering a new benchmark for “emerging assets” under proposed changes to the Your Future Your Super performance test meant to discourage the index-hugging behaviour that has characterised super fund investments since its introduction in 2021.
Investments
With YFYS changes, the nation-building poker game is reaching showdown
The performance test ‘side pocket’ proposal in the just-released Your Future Your Super consultation paper removes barriers to investing in nation-building, but that does not mean that there will be more investment as a result. Understanding why requires looking at both sides of the table.
Analysis
Contemplating the impacts of a lost decade for markets
Super funds and their members could be exposed to returns turning out to be poor over an extended period. Were that to happen, confidence in the system itself could be shaken.
