ASIC chair Joe Longo says that super trustees ignored “years of warnings” on service standards and failed to invest in systems for supervision of outsourced administrators. But elsewhere, his preference is for less regulation, not more.
In the aftermath of its bombshell report into death benefit claims handling, the corporate regulator says that it will “hold feet to the fire” to ensure members get a better outcome. But with service standards already lifting, it may not have to.
A growing number of asset managers have fled collective action on tackling climate change, but many asset owners remain committed to climate-related targets and as they grow in size and influence they will inevitably become more selective in the managers they deal with. It could also mean that as super funds shovel more of their members’ money into the US they will need to dial down their own sustainability rhetoric if their asset managers cannot deliver on it.
A damning new ASIC report into death benefit claims handling in superannuation lays bare the scale of the problem and the measures that funds will have to take if they want to solve it. It starts with funds reading what their members really think.
Years of consolidation mean that the list of potential merger targets has dwindled to a mere 13, with the potential that some could wind up stranded as funds opt to merge with others in the same niche or forego another merger in the face of more pressing service challenges.
Superannuation fund trustee boards can’t be mates’ clubs, but nor can they be places where strongly opposing philosophies on the role and purpose of super can happily co-exist, and boards should look past skills matrices to ensure only high-calibre appointments, according to one of Australia’s leading company directors and good governance advocate, David Gonski AC.
In most cases, the adage “time in the market beats timing the markets” would serve super funds which receive regular contributions and have long investment horizons well. But for the $37 billion closed-end State Super, which is in net asset outflow, time is one thing the fund does not have. CEO John Livanas outlines how State Super keeps volatility in check as the fund retreats from private assets.
With a young, predominantly female and relatively low-balance membership, Rest Super faces some specific issues helping its members enjoy their best-possible retirement. Interim chief member officer Andrew Ford says Rest’s strategy is to engage early, on members’ terms, and to make complex issues seem as simple as possible.
Adviser relationships, operational uplift and member services will all be arrows in the quiver of profit-to-member funds as they try to keep members from switching to platforms that desperately need to refresh their own demographics.
A near-$10 billion windfall from superannuation fund taxes revealed in the 2025-26 Budget has prompted calls for additional support for the retirements of low-income earners. Overall, the superannuation sector emerged unscathed from Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ fourth Budget, the last before a Federal election expected to be called within days.
Australian asset owners are eyeing a more volatile macro backdrop as they try to find their way to the end of the AI story abroad and wrestle with heightened regulatory scrutiny at home.
The government has split the eagerly awaited second tranche of its Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms in two, with part one (released on Friday) dealing with collective charging for advice and with “targeted prompts” or nudges. But trickier issues such as reforming the Best Interests Duty and introducing a new class of adviser will have to wait – to a date yet to be determined.
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