Legacy IT systems get a bad rap, often being blamed for holding super funds back on efficiency and service delivery. If they’re well-maintained, legacy systems can continue to work for years after their presumed use-by date, but because they’re not shiny and new they often get neglected.
As a total portfolio approach to managing members’ money gains popularity, some super funds may find their plans to move in this direction thwarted by inadequate or incomplete technology. But those who can build the right foundations will be far better equipped to act – not just react – as the investment world keeps shifting.
New research shows that people arrive at retirement from different directions, having traversed a range of issues during their working lives. And if that’s not already stressful enough, the lack of a coherent industry-wide response to the Retirement Income Covenant isn’t helping.
Treasury’s consultation on best practice principles for superannuation retirement income solutions has prompted calls for compliance with the principles to be made compulsory and led a range of industry bodies to push back on principles they perceive as being overly prescriptive.
David Anderson is stepping down from the top job at Australian Retirement Trust. Its new CEO, Kathy Vincent, will give the fund a chance to flex its advice muscles, but Anderson’s departure during a period of significant change seems poorly timed.
Institutional investing is entering a new era as blockchain-based rails make markets always-on, near-instant and capable of delivering hyper-customised portfolios. Are asset owners ready?
The corporate regulator says that while the institutional end of the private credit market “demonstrates good practice”, retail and wholesale investors may not fully appreciate the nature of their exposures or how much risks they’re taking on.
APRA deputy chair Margaret Cole presided over a period of heightened and more aggressive enforcement action at the regulator, but it remains to be seen whether that approach has yielded the desired results.
As NZ Super works through growing pains in processes and technology, it has made decisions to change its governance route. Among them is the appointment of co-CIOs – Brad Dunstan and Will Goodwin – who will lead the investment team, with collaborative decision-making and shared accountability. In a wide-ranging interview, Dunstan and Goodwin explain the fund’s “co-delegation” model, how its total portfolio approach will evolve under their leadership, and where it is hunting for new alpha sources.
Being unable to detect fraud is not a sufficient excuse for platforms that hosted the Shield and First Guardian master funds, according to the regulator, who have said there were enough easy-to-detect red flags in the products.
After two years in the top investment job at Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, Future Fund chief investment officer Ben Samild is off to the Middle East to manage money on behalf of the Abu Dhabi emirate. Samild’s longstanding devotion to the total portfolio approach he calls “joined up” might be well suited to an even bigger asset owner, but his ability to continue to promote a less “macho” financial industry culture is less certain.
The $105 billion profit-to-member fund Cbus Super has announced it is “overhauling” its death benefits process to make it faster and more straight forward for the next of kin of members, after systemic failings were revealed last year.
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Investment Magazine provides in-depth, monthly analysis of trends and developments for all the businesses in which superannuation funds engage‚ including asset allocation, investment manager selection, custody and fund accounting, member administration, group insurance and compliance.
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