Since taking over the top job at the $44 billion Funds SA more than a year ago, chief executive John Piteo has ushered in an investment function overhaul and wrapped up an important stage of the fund’s five-year data transformation program. It pledges to recentre around investment performance and more efficient processes, as the “missing piece” has been found in incoming CIO Con Michalakis.
Almost every discussion about superannuation has become politically charged, even on esoteric issues such as historical trust deed amendments, over which Coalition Senator Andrew Bragg is accusing Cbus chair Wayne Swan of misleading the Senate.
The job of the chief investment officer has changed as super funds themselves have evolved in scope and scale. Today, the job is as much about managing a – sometimes global – asset management business as it is about managing investments. Staying focused on meeting the long-term objectives of fund members is an increasingly taxing task and, inevitably, all CIOs have a “use-by” date. For some, that day is closer than for others.
AI can add value in almost every part of the investment process, providing support in information gathering and analysis, sometimes from non-traditional and hard-to-access data sources, for portfolio management purposes. A recent CFA Institute Research and Policy Center featured case studies from NSW government pension fund State Super and other global asset owners.
Super funds REST and AMP Super have posted double-digit returns for their MySuper products, thanks to strong international equities performance.
ASX-listed wealth giant Insignia Financial has received a non-binding, indicative proposal from private equity firm CC Capital Partners.
As super fund CIOs return to work for 2025, all eyes are on two things: Donald Trump’s presidency, and inflation. But they’re not the only issues that will drive investment decisions and returns, and some of them may present an unfamiliar set of challenges for a cohort of investment professionals that has grown up experiencing a particular set of market and economic conditions.
Some believe that dual-class share structures represent worst-in-class corporate governance practice, undermining the widely accepted principle of one share, one vote. Dual-class shares continue to be the subject of much debate, as they give some investors voting rights that are vastly disproportionate to their economic interests. But as Australian asset owners increasingly invest abroad, most already have investments in big dual-class stocks like Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Apple and Berkshire Hathaway.
The government has established the Regulatory Initiatives Grid, aiming to better streamline and coordinate regulation in the financial sector to help build a more competitive, dynamic and productive economy.
Electro-technology profit-to-member fund NESS Super has partnered with digital advice provider Otivo.
The median growth option in super funds are on track to finish the 2024 calendar year with an 11 per cent gain, according to the latest estimate from research house Chant West.
Australia’s super funds have emerged as truly global institutional asset owners, attracting the attention of peers and governments around the world. But Investment Magazine’s 2024 coverage detailed how the rapidly growing sector is also grappling with serving members in both accumulation and decumulation and expectations of world-class customer service.
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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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