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ESG
Qantas Super allocates one quarter of its assets to ESG investment as it targets net zero by 2050
Qantas Super will allocate $2 billion across two investment managers to target net zero carbon emissions for its portfolios by 2050.
Meredith BoothJune 10, 2022
The latest
Mergers & acquisitions
Mercer becomes an active player in further industry consolidation after its acquisitions from Westpac
Mercer's acquisition of BT Super puts the firm firmly in the industry's top 10 and well above the magic line of $50 billion plus under management, ensuring its position in the main game.
John DurieMay 26, 2022
Industry trends
Room for small fish in future super landscape, experts say
The trend of consolidation in Australia’s superannuation industry is gathering pace, but among leading industry figures the jury is still out on whether bigger funds always do better.
Ben HurleyMay 25, 2022
Investments
Super Funds expected to move above $185 billion in private equity investments by 2025: BCG
A 2020 forecast for Australian super funds lifting their private equity investments from $80 billion to $185 billion 2025 is conservative judging by recent moves in the sector, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) managing director Timo Schmid.
Meredith BoothMay 23, 2022
17 August, 2022
Retirement Conference
8 September, 2022
Absolute Returns Conference
Leadership
Leadership & profiles
Scale opportunities are great but beware risk for counterparties
CIO for the prosaically-named Australian Retirement Trust, Ian Patrick, certainly champions the benefits of scale, particularly as he has his eye on lifting his fund's weighting in unlisted entities, but he warned about becoming too great a business risk for counterparties, writes Andrew Main.
Andrew MainApril 4, 2022
Super CEO Profile Series
Big enough to be effective but planning serious expansion: Equip’s Cameron
While he sees his fund as already large enough to deliver well for members, Equip Super’s CEO Scott Cameron has ambitions to scale up to $50 billion and take membership to 300,000.
John DurieJanuary 12, 2022
Super CEO Profile Series
Internalisation means taking a punt on attracting the best and brightest: Hostplus’ Elia
'We've come into it from a different perspective,' Hostplus' David Elia says of Hostplus’ outsourced investment model in contrast to AustralianSuper’s continuing push to insource despite the former fund's acceleration into mega-fund territory.
Matthew SmithOctober 11, 2021
Member engagement
Member engagement
Funds must cater to women who drive most super decisions: CoreData
Super funds are missing an opportunity to attract women to their products, especially given women make or are involved in the majority of financial decisions in households according to CoreData group chief executive officer Andrew Inwood.
Meredith BoothApril 13, 2022
Opinion
Bigger portfolios means greater governance risk and complexity: Frontier’s Lazarides
Asset owners should be aware of the risks involved in growing their portfolios to ensure economies of scale are realised according to Frontier's head of investment governance Brett Lazarides.
Brett LazaridesJanuary 12, 2022
Financial Advice
Performance test failure will flow through to advice recommendations
Ignoring repeated test failure could be the beginnings of a liability case for advisers recommending APRA-regulated funds, legal and compliance experts have flagged.
Tahn SharpeAugust 11, 2021
Industry and regulation
Business strategy
Neurodiversity vital to a productive super industry workforce
There is untapped potential for sectors like the superannuation industry to better understand neurodiverse workers and allow them to thrive and, with the current tight employment market, now is a good time to start.
Meredith BoothMay 18, 2022
Insight for outcomes
Why liquidity management will be harder in a post-Covid-19 world
CIOs need more sophisticated tools to manage liquidity in a post-COVID world, experts say, now that the retirement landscape has been permanently changed following the precedent of early release schemes.
Ben HurleyMay 16, 2022
Opinion
Private debt: A cornerstone allocation for super funds
High-level tailwinds remain in place and are set to further propel private debt as a mainstream asset class, according to Marcus De Kock, alternatives investment director, Pacific, Mercer, and the time for funds to act on the private debt opportunity is now.
Marcus De KockApril 27, 2022