Featured Homepage Posts
ART says ‘inferior’ proposed YFYS changes increase systemic risk
The $370 billion Australian Retirement Trust says that the proposed introduction of a CPI+X benchmark for “emerging asset classes” or the move to a simple reference portfolio in the Your Future Your Super performance test would heighten system-wide risk without improving investment outcomes.
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.
2026 Insurance in Super Summit
Super funds fail to turn the page on claims handling
Every time the superannuation sector attempts to flip the script on insurance and death benefit claims handling, it somehow keeps getting dragged back into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Governance
What a brief encounter with Elon Musk taught me about the limits of capitalism
A brief encounter with Elon Musk in 2013 showed that he would not flinch at rolling the dice, writes Conexus Financial founder and managing director Colin Tate AM. But SpaceX’s mega-IPO demonstrates that citizens, regulators, capital allocators and advisers need to decide whether they are comfortable with who is holding those dice.
21 July, 2026
Insurance in Super Summit
19 August, 2026
Retirement Leaders Summit
13 – 15 October, 2026
Fiduciary Investors Symposium
Culture
‘Every opportunity has to earn its place’: How the Future Fund built a TPA culture that scales
The total portfolio approach has allowed Australia’s sovereign wealth fund to capture the themes that will power markets and economies for decades to come, said director of thought leadership Craig Thorburn – but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard to scale.
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
‘The brain never retires’: Superannuation’s medical moment
Neurologist Professor Matthew Kiernan says a rewarding, fulfilling and dignified retirement has as much to do with what goes on inside a member’s head as it does with money. But with funds conditioned to focus on the financial aspects of retirement, issues such as brain health aren’t getting the recognition or support they need, and members are the potential losers.
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.
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.
Investments
Herding, currency emerge as ‘systemic risk’ to super investors
An Investment Magazine roundtable of senior super sector executives, in partnership with Northern Trust, has heard that the herding and peer ranking mentalities exacerbated by the Your Future Your Super performance test pose a risk to the long-term fiduciary thinking of investment teams. The conversation was informed by research on the systemic impact of ‘big super’ from The Conexus Institute and warnings from agencies including the Reserve Bank of Australia and International Monetary Fund.
