The winners of the inaugural Chant West | Conexus Financial Super Fund Awards were announced last night in a ceremony at Ivy Ballroom in Sydney, with more than 300 guests in attendance.

Awards were handed out across 10 categories, with the night’s biggest award going to AustralianSuper for Super Fund of the Year. The fund edged out REST and Sunsuper for the top award, which was presented by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in a pre-recorded video message.

In the announcement, Gillard praised the awards for further recognising excellence across the entire superannuation sector.

“Labor is proud to have created compulsory superannuation and further enhanced and improved the system under my government by extending contributions to 12 per cent, demonstrating a firm commitment in providing dignified retirements for working Australians.

“I would like to thank all of you in this room for your contribution and hard work, the government recognises that the superannuation industry forms part of the broader financial services sector, the largest contributor to Australia’s economy.”

And the winners are…

The winners across all 10 categories were:

Super Fund of the Year – AustralianSuper

Best Fund: Longevity – MLC MasterKey Investment Protection

Best Fund: Insurance – Sunsuper for life

Best Fund: Member Services – Sunsuper for life

Best Fund: Investments – REST Industry Super

Asset Consultant of the Year – JANA Investment Advisers

Master Trust of the Year – Asgard Infinity eWrap

Corporate Solutions Fund of the Year – Plum Superannuation Fund

Pension Fund of the Year – QSuper Pension Account

Integrity – Cbus

Awards sponsor: Vanguard

The inaugural Chant West | Conexus Financial Super Fund Awards are part of the standard raisings needed to help superannuation face the many challenges it does, says John James, managing director of Vanguard Investments Australia.

These challenges include the huge swathe of baby boomers entering retirement and the demands of consumers seeking greater transparency and personalisation.

“We have had 25 years’ of phenomenal growth. We are leading the world in many aspects of retirement savings, but the next 25 years is going to be just as hard, if not harder,” says James. “With an ageing population, there is a massive amount of engagement that is needed as people come to retirement and there is a revolution going on globally as people look for value for money and transparency. Then there is the reality of regulatory change, lower margins, high fixed costs too.”

He cited the focus Vanguard was giving to new technology as part of its focus in helping meet these challenges – 25 per cent of Vanguard employees globally work in information technology. Scale, he said, would help in this process.

“The reason why we are excited about these awards is that it is about recognising excellence in contributing to member’s financial success and achieving their retirement goals,” James said. “It is about a better outcome for working Australians.”

For full awards coverage, see the June edition of Investment Magazine.