Operations
Frontier gets ‘final piece in puzzle’ for OCIO solution
Frontier Advisors has locked down a custodian for the outsourced investment service it created through a lift-out of State Super’s investment team and says that it is ready to start shopping its services to the 20-plus targets it has already identified.
Industry & regulation
Laggards drag down super’s death benefits progress: ASIC
ASIC has warned that a tail of underperforming superannuation trustees risks undermining industry-wide progress on claims handling more than a year after the regulator excoriated funds for dragging their feet on death benefits claims.
Investments
How Cbus built its new Australian equity strategy from scratch
Ryan Riedler, head of ASX core strategy, Australian equities at Cbus, says the fund will look to generate alpha locally through engagement and that internalisation will help it strengthen its connection with other market participants, as well as its brokers and service providers.
Leadership & profiles
AustralianSuper real assets head jumps ship
AustralianSuper’s head of Australian real assets, Nick O’Neil, is leaving the fund to become group chief executive officer and managing director of the ASX-listed global real estate and infrastructure group Lendlease.
21 July, 2026
Insurance in Super Summit
19 August, 2026
Retirement Leaders Summit
13 – 15 October, 2026
Fiduciary Investors Symposium
Leadership & profiles
Super fund executives, regulator honoured on King’s Birthday
The long-serving CEOs of HESTA and Hostplus have both been made Members of the Order of Australia in a move that signals the growing presence of super funds in the Australian political landscape. APRA deputy chair Margaret Cole, who is set to leave the regulator at the end of this month, has also been honoured for her service to the industry.
Leadership & profiles
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.
Profiles
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.
Retirement
Personalised member retirement needs will stretch some funds
One of the major tasks in meeting the retirement challenge is creating more service-led organisations which assist members into an appropriate retirement solution. Default settings do much of the heavy lifting in the accumulation phase. As the situation faced by many retirees is idiosyncratic, most would benefit from a more tailored approach from both financial
Industry & regulation
Super complaints expected to reach 8000 in 2026: AFCA
Superannuation complaints to AFCA are on track to exceed 8000 this year, a second consecutive year of around 30 per cent increases. Heather Gray, who is retiring in May after six years as lead ombudsman for superannuation, told the authority’s Member Forum that the answer to reducing complaints lies in empowering funds’ IDR teams and communicating with complainants and AFCA early. The forum heard that handling unreasonable people is a critical skill.
Governance
Third HESTA exec heads for the door in less than 12 months
The departure of the $100 billion HESTA’s chief operating officer Stephen Reilly follows those of chief executive Debby Blakey and chief risk officer Andrew Major, and is part of a shake-up among the broader senior ranks of Australian super funds.
Policy and Regulation
Super funds hold the capital the world needs: NSW Treasurer
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey says last year’s Citi A50 summit is converting investor interest into firm approvals, as the state pushes data centre, renewable energy and electrification projects through a fast-track process and positions Sydney as a global financial centre.
Investments
The twin forces rewriting the rules of investing
Portfolios built for the old world will be severely tested as emerging forces rewrite the rules of investing. The Top1000Funds.com Fiduciary Investors Symposium heard that geopolitical and macroeconomic upheaval, together with the disruption wrought by AI, should force asset owners to rethink the structure and composition of portfolios.
2023 Fiduciary Investors Symposium VIC
‘AusSuper owns this fight’: Perpetual backs mega-fund’s conviction on Origin Energy
Perpetual’s head of Australian equities, Vince Pezzullo, has publicly defended AustralianSuper’s defiance of Origin’s takeover bid, describing some comments by the bidding consortium as “disgraceful”. Pezzullo, HESTA’s Jeff Brunton and ACSI’s Ed John agreed there are merits to conducting transparent and public active ownership campaigns, but more often than not, it pays to engage in private.
