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Mercer Super expands into frontier market debt, builds out PE program

Mercer Super expands into frontier market debt, builds out PE program

The $80 billion Mercer Super has delivered a fourth consecutive year of double-digit returns to most members of its SmartPath lifecycle product. Global equities did a lot of heavy lifting, but chief investment officer Graeme Miller tells Investment Magazine that the fund is now looking further afield for returns.

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Super seat vacant at APRA as platform woes grow

Super seat vacant at APRA as platform woes grow

The prudential regulator has no successor or interim appointee to replace deputy chair Margaret Cole, who stepped down today, leaving the more than $3 trillion APRA-regulated super sector with no supervisor-in-chief as scrutiny on its platform segment grows.

The AI boom has left super funds with nowhere to run

The AI boom has left super funds with nowhere to run

Whenever super fund CIOs are asked what they’re doing about AI risk, “diversifying” is always the answer. But as cross-portfolio exposures to the thematic grow and grow, that answer is no longer good enough.

Blue skies and lawsuits power MLC Super returns higher

Blue skies and lawsuits power MLC Super returns higher

Global equities have driven most of MLC’s FY26 return so far, but its exposures to insurance-linked securities and “esoteric” credit have also put in the hard yards and helped the fund diversify beyond the AI thematic, according to chief investment officer Dan Farmer.

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Leadership
ESSSuper revives private equity program

ESSSuper revives private equity program

ESSSuper, the Victorian state fund with $12 billion in accumulation assets, has rebooted the private equity program it wound up over a decade ago in a bid to boost returns, with chief investment officer Daniel Selioutine telling Investment Magazine that exit pressures in the asset class mean it’s a good time to buy.

Profiles
GESB CEO calls time: ‘Past regime of default super’ no longer sustainable

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.

Why HESTA’s ‘joined-up thinking’ is one of its CIO’s favourite things

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.

Member engagement
Pension Policy Podcast: Fostering innovation in retirement solutions

Pension Policy Podcast: Fostering innovation in retirement solutions

Both APRA and ASIC have told super funds they need to adopt a greater risk appetite and be more innovative in how they fulfil their obligations under the Retirement Income Covenant. In this episode of the Pension Policy Podcast, MLC’s director of customer innovation Ashton Jones tells Retirement Magazine editor Simon Hoyle that his definition of “innovation”

Governance
HESTA seeks answers over ‘deeply concerning’ Richard White allegations

HESTA seeks answers over ‘deeply concerning’ Richard White allegations

HESTA wants answers from WiseTech on how it will manage the role of executive chair Richard White after reports emerged that the Australian Federal Police are investigating him over human trafficking and visa fraud allegations.

Shield, First Guardian reforms must not become a covert operation to restrict competition

Shield, First Guardian reforms must not become a covert operation to restrict competition

There is broad consensus in industry and Canberra that the collapses of the Shield and First Guardian master funds – and failures that led to them – demand a regulatory response. But getting that response wrong could create an uneven playing field in the industry and some counterproductive consumer outcomes.

Industry and regulation
AustraliaSuper backs new benchmark for ‘emerging assets’ in YFYS

AustraliaSuper backs new benchmark for ‘emerging assets’ in YFYS

The nation’s two largest super funds are at odds over potential changes to the performance test, with AustralianSuper saying it supports further developments to the CPI + X benchmark that could be used to evaluate “emerging assets” after Australian Retirement Trust rejected the model due to its potential to increase systemic risk. 

Investments
Super funds grapple with hidden AI cross-exposures as boom runs on 

Super funds grapple with hidden AI cross-exposures as boom runs on 

As super funds work to understand their total portfolio exposure to the artificial intelligence thematic, a complex picture of hidden betas and “attachment points” is gradually emerging. They also need to figure out how to play the same thematic in the “tricky” China market.

Why switching to a reference portfolio metric for YFYS is risky

Why switching to a reference portfolio metric for YFYS is risky

Treasury’s proposal for a new single-metric performance test may seem refreshing, and sound like progress to a jaded industry, but potential dangers for funds, their members and the system at large lurk underneath.