As the $100 billion Cbus Super continues its push to 50 per cent internal management, deputy chief investment officer Leigh Gavin says the fund applies the same benchmarks to its internal team as to external managers – and the same pressure to perform.
Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick once tried to help a US president to view the world a little differently when she plotted to spike President Richard Nixon’s tea with LSD. Today, scores of clinical trials for psychedelic drugs are underway around the world to help treat depression, trauma, chronic pain, and many other disorders and ailments. And there are opportunities for investors.
The $88 billion profit-to-member fund for health workers is effectively offline as it changes out its administration provider. But a projected six-week limited-service period has members scratching their heads.
Whatever the outcome of the federal election, there will be a new minister overseeing the superannuation and financial services portfolio given the resignation of Stephen Jones from politics. With the financial advice reform project incomplete and a raft of contentious super policies afoot, the identity of the next minister will have major ramifications for industry.
The $16 billion NGS Super wants to give its 32,000 members in or heading towards retirement an income for life and all the confidence that comes with it. Just don’t say the ‘A word’.
Tranche 2 of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) reforms establish a foundation for provision of financial advice to super fund members who would otherwise miss out. However, The Conexus Institute’s David Bell and Geoff Warren write that funds still need to rise to the challenge of using an expanded capacity to better assist their members.
Centrepoint Alliance has entered into a deal with Brighter Super that could see up to 400 members transition to external advice partnerships. The super fund is conscious of the risk members could move at the recommendation of an external adviser, but is confident its value proposition hold up.
The factors that attract new members to a superannuation fund are broadly the same as the factors that keep them there, with the proviso that funds communicate effectively about how they’re going on those factors. Research produced jointly by CoreData Research and Conexus Financial, publisher of Investment Magazine, has found value for money is currently top of members’ minds.
The total portfolio approach has already been implemented by some of the biggest asset owners around the world. But with the advent of a more volatile market and macro backdrop more funds might start putting it to work.
The $188 billion Aware Super thinks the rollercoaster markets have been on in the last few weeks might not be over. So it’s keeping its eye out for opportunities in the unlisted space and investments that other asset owners have grown cautious on.
Super funds’ adoption of a key security measure remains patchy even in the aftermath of a co-ordinated cyberattack that resulted in member money being stolen, and they’ll have to work harder if they want to protect accounts from scammers.
Misunderstanding carbon reduction strategies creates unnecessary hesitation among investors and can impact effective action on net-zero commitments. Dispelling these myths is essential to align capital markets with sustainability goals, research from Northern Trust shows.
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