Mine Wealth + Wellbeing doubles investment team
The $9.3 billion Mine Wealth + Wellbeing fund is increasing its Sydney-based investment team from five to 11, partly in a bid to allocate alternative assets more effectively and to build its retirement options. David Bell, chief investment officer of the fund, has spent the past year making the business case for the expansion, and … Read more
HESTA to explore funding needs of health employers
HESTA is seeking to invest in the funding needs of the health and community services sector, where most of its members are employed. The freedom to investigate such possibilities arises after the restructuring and expanding of the investment team to allow chief investment officer, Rob Fowler, to take on a more strategic role. Debby Blakey, … Read more
Generational change in ASX200 boards
Female board members in the ASX200 are statistically likely to be decades younger than their male counter parts, suggesting a generational change in board composition. Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of male non-executive directors are aged 60–70+ years, while 62 per cent of females are between the ages of 40 and 60, according to research … Read more
Three super funds developing CIPR with Challenger annuities
Challenger’s annuity products are to form part of three super fund’s strategies to achieve a comprehensive income products for retirement (CIPR) through an income layering model. CareSuper, legalsuper and LGS Super have all announced they intend to offer annuities to their members, backed by Challenger, by mid-2016, pre-empting proposed changes to the superannuation system flagged … Read more
The Government’s contradictory super changes
The contradictions at the heart of the Government’s proposals for scrapping default awards and prescribing at least a third of independent trustees on superannuation boards have been highlighted by the AIST. Tom Garcia, chief executive of the AIST, made the comments to Investment Magazine, but used a similar logic when speaking before the Senate Economics … Read more
Digital disruption threatens fund managers the most
Fund managers are the part of the financial services industry that is most vulnerable to digital disruption, with more than four-fifths (82 per cent) in the Asia-Pacific region saying they will face direct competition from non-traditional market entrants, such as technology firms, according to research by State Street Global Exchange. This vulnerability, coupled with the … Read more
Nominate your fund for the Conexus Financial Superannuation Awards
Entries are now open for the Conexus Financial Superannuation Awards 2016, including for Super Fund of the Year and Pension Fund of the Year. The awards celebrate excellence in the Australian superannuation industry and aim to encourage all funds, their staff and suppliers to strive towards the best possible outcomes for members, in all aspects … Read more
Letter to the editor from Brad Holzberger
I read with interest David Rowley’s column on 26 October entitled “Selling Lifecycle”. David referred to me as an advocate of lifecycle investing for default accumulation funds, using the terms “evangelical” and “faith”. I actually fully support the conclusion of David’s column but would take a bit of exception to those two terms. They have … Read more
Vison Super implements Acurity platform
Vision Super is to implement the Acurity platform as its core registry administration system. The super fund joins Clearview, Maritime Super, Tasplan & Quadrant and Pillar Administration who have all this year adopted the technology provided by Financial Synergy. In a press release the popularity of the software was attributed to it high degree of … Read more
Selling lifecycle
AMP Capital is on the campaign trail for lifecycle investing – its chosen default for MySuper. This is not for the faint of heart, as Sean Henaghan, chief investment officer and director, multi-asset group at AMP Capital well knows. He is often jolted by a knee-jerk hostility to any debate on the idea lifecycle might … Read more
Chalmers: there is still a role for equal representation
The new Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Jim Chalmers, will not be supporting governance changes in superannuation and has questioned the Government’s motives in this policy area. He said the proposed changes were poorly and ideologically motivated, and there were other ways the superannuation system could be improved. “We believe there is a … Read more
