Super funds need to make it as easy as possible for disengaged members to move into an acceptable – even if not optimal – retirement solution. This raises the question of what “default” might mean in a retirement context, as well as which version the industry may be angling for.
When a member retires, their worldview can shift significantly as they realise they may have to rely on their super fund for income that lasts for the rest of their lives. Members are naturally sceptical of promises and guarantees which is why transparency and trust are critical.
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund says that “resilience” is vital for navigating a world defined by more conflict, more intervention and more inflation. But building it into portfolios is no small task.
With their international asset exposures now sitting at 50 per cent, super funds are looking beyond the US for returns even as they expect the AI and digitalisation thematic to keep powering markets.
Legacy admin systems were built for a steady-state world where members contributed steadily for decades and rarely touched anything. But in a world that will include payday super and a growing number of highly demanding retirees, the challenges facing funds and their administrators are mounting. It requires a change in mindset from minimising costs to maximising service.
The Super Members Council wants anti-hawking laws expanded to prevent a repeat of the $1.2 billion collapse of the Shield and First Guardian master funds, warning that serious consumer risks arise when members are pushed to move their super out of the “mainstream” system.
In the first episode of the new Retirement Magazine Pension Policy Series podcast, Opperman warns that Australia has millions of people “coming over the hill” into retirement with no plan to manage it. The Retirement Income Covenant alone is not enough – he says a strategy without implementation is meaningless, and that there is “a problem on advice and guidance”.
Outgoing Australian Retirement Trust chair Andrew Fraser says superannuation funds can claim some credit for the Albanese government’s handling of geopolitical risk and the volatile Trump White House in a parting ode to the $4 trillion sector’s growing global influence. But the comments to the corporate regulator’s annual forum came alongside a warning from ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant that member experience should be just as paramount as super’s market and economic power.
SQM Research is assessing its next steps after ASIC announced it will take the researcher to court alleging due diligence failures over SQM’s role researching the Shield Master Fund. This is the first time ASIC has taken action against a research house and a potential trial will become a test for the responsibilities of researchers and the extent to which it is viable to research multi-asset funds.
The RBA is keeping a close eye on super funds’ “uneven progress” on liquidity management and their growing allocations to international assets as it tries to spot systemic risks before they arise.
Performance test reforms will be guided by three principles to make sure that member outcomes aren’t watered down by any changes, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has told the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia conference.
UniSuper has tipped US$500 million ($765 million) into an infrastructure adjacency strategy from Macquarie Asset Management in a move it says demonstrates the success of its partnerships with a small number of high-quality managers.
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