Leadership & profiles
What HESTA’s CEO pick says about the super wars
The appointment of profit-to-member mainstay Robbie Campo to the CEO role at the $100 billion HESTA comes with the fund under increasing pressure relating to its relationship with Grow Inc. and the industry-wide acceleration of outflows to platforms.
Leadership & profiles
Former GESB CEO heads to asset manager
Former GESB CEO Ben Palmer has taken up the top job at Affinity Funds Management after 13 years at the Western Australian super fund, joining the ranks of super fund executives who have headed to family offices, charities and asset and wealth managers following careers in the super sector.
Policy and Regulation
Shield, First Guardian trigger sweeping Treasury rethink of consumer protections
A cooling-off period would be applied to inter-fund super fund switches and platform trustees would be on the hook for member losses incurred through fraud or theft under proposals contained in a trio of consultation papers released on Wednesday morning.
Governance
Why funds need to deal with TPA’s ‘free rider’ problem
More and more super funds are pivoting to the TPA approach, but will need to confront the long-standing issues with accountability that come with it if they want that model to be sustainable into the future.
12 – 14 May, 2026
Fiduciary Investors Symposium
21 July, 2026
Insurance in Super Summit
19 August, 2026
Retirement Leaders Summit
Leadership & profiles
Lessons from the middle: Leadership, resilience and the courage of conviction
The principles of high-performance leadership – whether in business or sport – remain remarkably consistent and include the ability to maintain clarity, integrity, and conviction under immense pressure. Former Australian test cricketer Usman Khawaja told the Fiduciary Investors Symposium, held by Investment Magazine sister publication Top1000Funds.com, that the only time you really lose is when you stop trying.
Profiles
‘Not afraid of the size we are’: NGS pushes ‘alternative scale’ as churn slows
NGS Super is on a mission to reduce its member churn with a bid to lean into its “alternative scale” as a small player in a superannuation landscape dominated by increasingly mammoth funds. Chief executive Natalie Previtera says the transition to Grow – which she calls the Ferrari of admin systems – is one of the first crucial steps.
2025 Insurance in Super Summit
What the super industry can learn about leadership under pressure
A willingness to make tough decisions in difficult circumstances characterises the careers of both former Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan AC and the neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo, and will provide the Investment Magazine Insurance in Super Summit with insights into the secrets of effective leadership in a challenging environment.
Retirement
Changing the focus, from ‘nest egg’ to ‘income for retirement’
Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Dr Daniel Mulino writes exclusively for Retirement Magazine that superannuation fund members deserve a dignified retirement, consistent with the objective of super, and it is well past time to move the public conversation from super providing a lump sum to it being the source of ongoing and reliable income.
Governance
ACSI says ASX must work hard to ‘rebuild trust’ following governance inquiry
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, the proxy adviser serving a host of profit-to-member super funds, says it is “critical” the ASX address shortcomings identified in an ASIC review of its governance, capability and risk management frameworks.
Governance
Board structure incidental to the power of profit-to-member funds
A report by the Super Members Council says it’s the governance of profit-to-member funds that allows them to deliver better net returns to members, lower costs and greater efficiency, and to offer more diversified portfolios. But that has (almost) nothing to do with who sits at the board table.
Industry & regulation
Funds face new discretion under plan to block abusers from death benefits
The Albanese government is exploring legislative options to stop domestic violence abusers from gaining control of their victims’ superannuation through death benefits. While this could give trustees greater discretion in assessing a deceased member’s circumstances, complicated cases may add further strains to an already stressed payout process.
Investments
Geopolitical risks rewire asset allocation ‘operating system’: GIC
Some investors are “missing the point” of geopolitical risks by equating them to the disruptions from conflicts and wars, according to GIC chief economist Prakash Kannan, but in reality, geopolitical risk is no longer episodic or peripheral. This means investors need to think harder about inflation and country composition in their portfolio.
Investments
‘Not an ATM’: Sicilia shrugs off private credit liquidity fears
The chief investment officer of the $150 billion industry super fund says that Hostplus’ portfolio will weather the ongoing downturn in software companies and that moves by a number of large private credit managers to gate their funds are a result of the asset class being offered to retail investors who should not have assumed the funds would be liquid enough to get money out when everybody else is trying to do the same.
