The finalists of the Chant West/Conexus Financial Super Fund Awards have been announced by the research house Chant West.
The fund ratings firm has named finalists across 10 categories, including Super and Pension Funds of the Year.
Those nominated for Super Fund of the Year are AustralianSuper, CareSuper, Equip, HOSTPLUS, MLC, Plum, QSuper, REST, Sunsuper, Telstra Super and UniSuper.
Those nominated for Pension Fund of the Year are AMP, Asgard, AustralianSuper, Colonial First State, HESTA, MLC, QSuper, REST, Sunsuper and UniSuper.
Funds that have been named in four or more categories are AMP, AustralianSuper, BT, Mercer, MLC, Plum, QSuper, REST, Sunsuper and UniSuper.
Apart from the Longevity Product Award and the Innovation Award, funds had to receive Chant West’s top rating – “5 Apples” – to be included as a finalist, of which there are either five or 10 in each category.
“We rated about 230 super funds and 150 pension funds in late 2013. For super funds, this involved scoring them on about 110 factors under our six main criteria,” says Warren Chant, principal at Chant West.
The two main criteria – investments and member services – account for 60 per cent of a fund’s overall rating (see table below).
| Super Main Criteria | Weight | ||||||
| Investments | 35% | ||||||
| Member Services | 25% | ||||||
| Fees | 15% | ||||||
| Insurance | 10% | ||||||
| Administration | 10% | ||||||
| Organisation | 5% | ||||||
Funds were scored on each of these criteria, applying the weights shown in the table to arrive at the funds’ overall scores.
“Our starting point in deciding the finalists in each award category was to consider the top 10 to 15 scores for the relevant criteria from our ratings process. So, for example, the finalists for the Best Fund: Member Services are those that scored highest on that criterion alone,” Chant says.
“Our research team then debated those scores to see whether they truly reflected our views of the funds given our experience and knowledge of them. In some cases, the debate caused us to revisit our scores, which resulted in a change to our rankings.”
The process was applied to each award category, and Chant says senior management also reviewed the entire process for “its robustness and consistency”.
For more information on the event, visit www.superfundawards.com.au or to register for tickets simply click on the button below.
The full list of finalists
| Super Fund of the Year (Alphabetical Order) |
| AustralianSuper |
| CareSuper |
| Equip Corporate |
| HOSTPLUS |
| MLC MasterKey Business Super |
| Plum Superannuation Fund |
| QSuper Accumulation Account |
| REST |
| Sunsuper |
| TelstraSuper |
| UniSuper |
| Pension Fund of the Year (Alphabetical Order) |
| AMP Flexible Super |
| Asgard Infinity eWrap |
| AustralianSuper |
| Colonial First State FirstChoice Wholesale Pension |
| HESTA Income Stream |
| MLC MasterKey Pension Fundamentals |
| QSuper Pension Account |
| REST Pension |
| Sunsuper for life |
| UniSuper Flexi Pension |
| Corporate Solutions Fund of the Year (Alphabetical Order) |
| AMP SignatureSuper |
| Equip |
| Mercer Super Trust |
| MLC MasterKey Business Super |
| Plum Superannuation Fund |
| Sunsuper |
| Advised Product of the Year (Alphabetical Order) |
| AMP Flexible Super |
| Asgard Infinity eWrap |
| BT Super for Life |
| Colonial First State FirstChoice Wholesale Super |
| MLC MasterKey Super Fundamentals |
| Asset Consultant of the Year (Alphabetical Order) |
| Frontier Advisors |
| JANA Investment Advisers |
| Mercer Investments |
| Russell Investments |
| Towers Watson |
| Best Fund: Investments (Alphabetical Order) |
| AustralianSuper |
| CareSuper |
| Catholic Super |
| Commonwealth Bank Group Super |
| Cbus |
| Equip |
| HOSTPLUS |
| REST |
| TelstraSuper |
| UniSuper |
| Best Fund: Innovation (Alphabetical Order) |
| AMP SignatureSuper |
| ANZ Smart Choice |
| BT Super for Life |
| Mercer Super Trust |
| QSuper Accumulation Account |
| Suncorp Everyday Super |
| Best Fund: Member Services (Alphabetical Order) |
| AMP SignatureSuper |
| AustralianSuper |
| Cbus |
| HOSTPLUS |
| MLC MasterKey Business Super |
| Plum Superannuation Fund |
| QSuper Accumulation Account |
| REST |
| Sunsuper for life |
| TelstraSuper |
| UniSuper |
| Best Fund: Longevity Product (Alphabetical Order) |
| AMP North Personal Pension |
| Challenger Guaranteed Annuity (Liquid Lifetime) |
| MLC MasterKey Investment Protection |
| MTAA Super RetireSafe |
| QSuper Guaranteed Term Annuity |
| Best Fund: Integrity (Alphabetical Order) |
| AMP SignatureSuper |
| BT Lifetime Employer Super |
| Mercer Super Trust – SmartSuper |
| MLC MasterKey Business Super |
| Plum Superannuation Fund |
| Russell SuperSolution General Division |
