The financial services sector has an important role to play in boosting economic productivity and resilience, says Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino ahead of the Albanese government’s high-profile Economic Reform Roundtable later this month.
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.
The Financial Services Council has recruited a trio of Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia staffers as the rival lobby groups compete for peak body status in the fractured and politically charged $4 trillion sector. The raid follows the FSC’s hire of former ASFA commercial director Justine Earl-Smith late last year and addition of CareSuper and Brighter Super to the FSC membership.
Having walked away from one well-advanced merger this year already, pressure is on the TelstraSuper board to make its latest merger proposal stick. But as it bids to compete with the two largest mega-funds, Aware Super is feeling the heat too.
An external panel has recommended that the University of Sydney minimise investments in defence and security-related industries within its $770 million private asset portfolio rather than divest and book a $67 million loss.
Regulatory assessment of super fund’s retirement income strategies (RIS) is a near certainty. The YFYS test is probably the most example of how assessment can drive a range of industry behaviours, not all of which align with best member outcomes. The Conexus Institute says this highlights the importance of developing a well-framed RIS assessment framework at a regulatory and industry level, with capabilities at the foundation.
Super funds’ retirement income covenant deliberations address longevity risk in a way that often leads to a product-led solution. But new research suggests that if funds can engage members well before they retire to help them make simple investment choices it can significantly alleviate the risk they face of outliving their capital and give them more confidence to spend what they have saved.
New Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino says he will honour the financial advice reform work already progressed by the Albanese government in its first term, including on superannuation nudges. But those who criticised the slow pace of reform under his predecessor Stephen Jones may be underwhelmed by the indicative timeline.
The “missing middle” of members that super funds want to engage with advice and guidance is a more contested space than many appreciate, and funds will need to raise their voice if they want to be heard.
Emerging markets are diverse and varied, driven by distinctive regional factors. An active investment approach – underpinned by local insights, disciplined research and the flexibility to adjust to market conditions and diverging economic policy – is critical to managing this complexity and targeting the best opportunities.
Investors can adopt fundamental, data-driven equity strategies to help mitigate the worst potential effects of an overweight position to US equities that has developed due to the market’s outperformance since the “Great Moderation” starting in 2009.
Team Super CIO Seamus Collins is focused on integrating two investment teams following the merger between Mine Super and TWUSUPER but says the fund won’t ‘cross the Rubicon’ into internalisation (just yet).
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