Former APRA deputy chair Helen Rowell has been appointed chair of Australian Retirement Trust, the country’s second largest super fund at circa $350 billion.

Rowell’s appointment follows the decision of former chair Andrew Fraser to step down from the role after 10 years on the board of ART and predecessor fund Sunsuper to take on the chair role at the ASX-listed Bank of Queensland.

“At ART, we recognise the vital role superannuation plays in Australia’s financial system, our economy, and in the lives of our members,” Fraser said.

This understanding is reflected in our commitment to strong corporate governance. Helen’s depth of experience and leadership capacity will be vital assets as the fund implements its 2030 Strategy under the leadership of our CEO, Kathy Vincent.

“Together they represent a formidable leadership duo, who will lead ART into continued and greater success on behalf of the 2.4 million Australians who trust us with their retirement savings.”

Rowell closed out her career at APRA in June 2023, having worked for the regulator for more than 20 years, and joined ART as a director in April 2024.

“[ART]  has a clear understanding of the responsibility it carries as the custodian of millions of Australians’ retirement savings,” Rowell said in a statement announcing her appointment.

“The members of our board bring a diverse array of skills and perspectives that enable us to put the interests of our members front and centre, and I look forward to the next phase of ART’s development.”

Her elevation to chair comes at a time of unusual turnover for the megafund, with former chief executive David Anderson stepping down after just 18 months in the role to be replaced by the fund’s chief operating officer and retail super veteran Kathy Vincent. That departure came hot on the heels of Fraser’s own announcement that he would step down as chair.

“Since formation, ART has been determined to build capacity and capability for the future,” Fraser said.

“Being involved in the establishment and growth of Australian Retirement Trust as an enduring institution of standing, and a force for good in its commitment to our members, has been an honour,”

Bigger is better?
During her time at APRA, Rowell was the public face of the start of APRA’s push for more super fund mergers, telling the AIST Conference of Major Super Funds (CMSF) in 2021 that there was an “emerging industry view” that any fund under than $30 billion would be increasingly uncompetitive against the megafunds.

“While there will inevitably be debate about the threshold level of assets needed, we agree with the sentiment,” Rowell said at the time.

Rowell handed over primary responsibility for superannuation to Margaret Cole in 2021 before the introduction of the Your Future Your Super performance test that would supercharge merger activity. A year after Rowell’s comments at CMSF, Margaret Cole said – again, at CMSF – that the regulator had “never said that super funds under a certain size of FUM won’t survive”.

“We do say, however, that there’s clear evidence from our own research that shows that funds under a certain size are more likely to face sustainability challenges unless they have some other form of competitive advantage,” Cole said.  

The extent to which APRA had a definitive AUM threshold for super fund viability has been ambiguous since, with subsequent APRA top brass preferring to adopt a less specific yardstick.

ART has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of merger activity supercharged by YFYS and administrative and cost pressures, bolting on a host of corporate super funds like Qantas Super, Alcoa, Woolworths and Endeavour Group Super and Australia Post Superannuation Scheme – among others – in the years since it was created in the merger between Sunsuper and QSuper.